Log 1- Reconnect

Of Magic and Machines- Reconnect

It was a cool and vibrant evening as a young girl was seen in her dimly lit room. She only had her desk lamp on in her medium sized room as the child calmly worked on her homework. Well, more like her final project before winter break. Thanksgiving had already passed and december was almost here. Plus, her teacher had a very special project in mind for her class project.

The students in her class were asked to come up with a creative story that had a beginning, middle, and end. The most creative story would extra credit in the class and be submitted for it to get recognized by the creative arts committee in their school district. However, the girl who had just finished her story was not doing it to get the attention of her sixth grade class. Instead, she was writing to tell a story; one that he dad had told when she was a little girl.

She believed in herself. All she needed to do was have a little-.

“Faith, come on down! Dinner’s ready!!”

“Okay!” The girl responded in reaction to her name being called as she made her way downstairs. Faith was hungry and could not wait to get started eating since she had worked on her project for quite some time.

Next Day…

The auditorium of Peacebloom Elementary was filled with kids and adults of all different ages, sizes, and grade levels. Today was the day where the 4th-6th grade classes was to present their stories to the general audience of students, teachers, and parents. As each student that was presenting had come and gone by class; presenting in alphabetical order by last name, Faith was beginning to feel nervous.

Like millions of kids across the United States and the world, Faith was on the autism spectrum. The neurological disability affected skills with communication and social interaction with other people. For Faith specifically, she would feel nervous when speaking in front of large crowds like the one that was here today. As she patiently waited her turn at the back of the stage to present, someone she knew decided to give her a visit.

“Hello, Faithy.”

The young girl turned around to see a man around six feet tall with black hair that had a touch of silver. He wore a winter coat because of the cold winds and the light snow that was beginning to come down outside. He also wore a pair of jeans and some standard shoes to go with them.

“Uncle Leo! I thought you promised to not call me that in school!!”

“Sorry.” Leo shrugged as he scratched the back of his head and chuckled. “I just wanted to show how much I cared for my niece.” The young man and girl soon hugged each other lightly and during this, Leo now noticed the two earrings that Faith was wearing. The almost looked like small robot heads, with one being black and the other one being white. “Hey, you’re wearing the earrings your father gave you-.”

“They’re not just “earrings”, they’re my good luck charms.” The Twelve year old told her uncle as she pointed to each of them. “This one is Remy and the other one is Moby.”

“You gave them names?”

“It helps me have more…… What’s the word…?” Faith asked, snapping her fingers as a mechanism to try to remember what she was thinking of.

“Confidence?”

“Yeah! Confidence!!” She nodded happily. “Now, can you please go? I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“Alright; alright. Good luck up there. You’ll do great.” Leo followed that comment with him walking out from the back of the stage. As he came out into the hall, one of the school staff members approached him.

“Excuse me, but would you happen to be Faith’s father by any chance?”

Leo shook his head. “Not exactly, I’m her Uncle. Would you happen to be her teacher, Ms. Leanne?”

The middle aged woman brown hair and dressed in casual attire nodded her head. Impressed. “Indeed I am. I must say, your niece is quite a talented student. She told me that she put a lot of effort into making her story.”

“She did; did she?” Leo asked. The memories of a good friend of his from when he was younger came into his head whenever he saw Faith acting very shy around other people.

“Yes. In fact, her story is up next.”

A small intercom through the hall went off moments later, “Now, with our last story of the day, please welcome Ms. Faith Nocte with A Tale of Twins.” The Auditorium boomed with a round of applause as the lights dimmed. For music, the tone was soft like you were in the mountain peaks as a light breeze could be heard blowing to accompany the sounds of nature that followed.

In the Midst of all this, Faith slowly walked out and let what appeared to be a traveller's cloak tumble to the floor. This motion revealed something that she would normally want to hide, but no longer had the fear of doing so. The dress that she wore was a mixture of Black and white with long black sleeve like gloves on her hands. But the most stunning feature surprised everyone in the audience, including Leo.

Her hair that was as white as Snow itself.

As she looked at the crowd, Faith opened a small book that looked like a hardcover journal. This was what contained her story. The sixth grade girl had to be calm and relaxed Once she reopened her closed hazelnut eyes, the storyteller began to speak.

Long ago, there was a pair of twin brothers. Both of them have lived in an orphanage since they were six after their parents mysteriously disappeared one night. Life wasn’t great for he two as every potential chance to become adopted went up in smoke. Even though it wasn’t their fault, the two of them blamed themselves because they thought that they somehow messed up without knowing it.

One day though, something strange happened to them and their best friend.

Each of them bought a seperate costume for the costume party that was being organized and set up for their eighteenth birthday. However, what they did not know was that somehow, each one of the three boys ended up in a different world. One similar to earth, but with a different set of rules.

The costumes they wore gave them the powers of the characters they chose to be. The first brother became a swordsman that could harness a powerful and rare source of magic; he was “The Rune Slayer”. The second brother had the power to summon multiple swords at once and was titled “The Infinity Sword”. Lastly, their friend had his left arm become fully mechanical and was just as powerful as he was a risk taker. He was called “The Reckless Fist”.

Days passed on from when they first came to this new world. They met others who also were brought to the world of Equus under similar circumstances. Both good… and bad. But the thing that surprised both brother the most was when they found the most unlikely of allies.

Their parents.

The brothers parents had been brought to the world they were in now to fight someone that had threatened the calm peace. But their efforts led to them getting trapped in stone for a thousand years. When they were freed, that same evil was also freed. One that completely lost all of his sanity.

In a powerful battle of wits, the brothers fought alongside each other and their friends and family in order to make sure this villain was defeated for good. However, he was too powerful for them to take on. He almost smashed the Reckless Fist’s arm to pieces, and left the Infinity Sword in a state where he could barely stand. The evil, known as the Diabolic Esper, was planning to do the same thing that was done to him and the boy’s parents all those years ago.

But the Rune Slayer had other plans. To protect his brother, he put himself in his place and was frozen in solid stone. He sacrificed himself and his freedom to make sure his dear brother could still fight…… And in the end, it helped him win.

Now, the statue of his brother serves to the Infinity Sword as a sign of hope. A hope for things to soon get better. All he needed to do was have a little bit of faith.

Because one day, the statue will begin to crack… and when it does, he will be there to see his sibling once again.

Seconds after Faith finished speaking and closed her storybook, the crowd erupted into a wondrous applause of both parent and student. She smiled as she saw her uncle clap for her, but also saw someone that she didn’t think would be here, He had red, spiky hair and wore a similar coat and jeans like attire as her uncle.

This was her Father. Anson Nocte.

His daughter was overjoyed to see that he could make it. When she walked off the stage, the young girl raced towards her dad and was welcomed with open arms. Anson hugged his daughter, very happy for her to be able to conquer her fear of speaking in front of an audience of people.

“I’m so proud of you, my little angel.” He told her as they began to walk to the car. It was time for them to go home.

That Afternoon…

After coming home sometime around 2pm, Faith handed her project to her dad and was greeted by the sight of her grandparents. Grandpa Luke and Grandma Ciela. They congratulated her as they had the little youngster play outside in the snow. It was lightly sprinkling white flakes of frost as it was the day before the beginning of December, but winter was coming early this year. It turned the Nocte’s backyard into a winter wonderland for Faith and her grandmother to play in and pelt each other with snowballs.

“She looks so peaceful… It reminds me of when we were younger.”

“Indeed. I remember it like it was yesterday, Leo.” Anson was watching his daughter from the kitchen window, holding a mug of coffee. Leo noticed that there was a look in his eyes that might tell him otherwise.

“You’re thinking about her, arent you?”

Anson sighed. “She reminds me a lot of Natasha, but no. I wasn’t thinking about her. I was thinking about Nicko.”

“Your brother? It’s been 21 years since then, Anson. Sometimes, you need to let go-.”

“But what about the ending?”

Now Leo was even confused. “Ending?”

“Faith’s story.” Anson explained, turning towards the final page of Faith’s project. “One day, the statue will begin to crack… I never told her that when I shared it to her… Do you think it’s true?”

“I don’t know, man. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Anson himself just nodded. In the years since his adventures in Equestria, the human had gotten himself married to a woman named Natasha Collins. But eight years after getting married and six years after faith was born, Anson’s wife died after going into Cardiac Arrest. Now, Faith was the only things he had left.

She was beautiful, like a character from a fantasy novel. But from his experiences firsthand, fantasies could become reality.

Evening (November 30th)

Later that evening after dinner, Faith was in her room and looking through something she uncovered in the attic. It looked like a treasure chest filled with clothes and costumes. Something that made the young curious on what she would somehow find.

Her father was having a conversation downstairs with Grandma and Grandpa as well as Uncle Leo, so it gave her the time to look at everything inside since her bedtime wasn’t for another twenty minutes. Upon opening the chest, she was greeted by the sight of numerous clothes, weapon like props that looked really realistic, and other accessories. However, the one that really caught her attention seemed to be a small necklace that resembled a spearhead. It’s outline and design looked similar to the two earrings that she was wearing along with a headpiece she found a few minutes later.

“Heehee… looks like they match.”

The cheerful child then put the necklace on and continued to rustle through the stuff that was inside the loot chest. She later found some clothes that went along with the necklace and surprisingly, were in her size. Putting them on piece by piece and when she was fully dressed up, Faith looked at herself in the mirror and was amazed by her newfound appearance. She now believed that she was a powerful queen that could protect others instead of having others protect her. A queen of code… A nemesis to evildoers.

A Code Nemesis

She definitely liked the title after giving it some thought. It even got to the point to where she fell asleep with the new costume on. As she drifted into her dreams, she wondered what to get for her father for christmas. She wanted to find something that could make him happy. Very happy.

As she fell asleep though, something mysterious began to happen. The necklace and earrings she wore began to glow dimly. The glow began to spread across her body and cover her like a blanket, moving as the girl tossed and turned to make sure to comfort her. Then, once Faith had laid still, a silver light that was as dim as the glowing energy around her flashed in the room. The next moment, the girl who pretended to be a kind queen was gone. No longer in her room anymore.

Equus, Outskirts of Ponyville

It was a calm and snowy day for the citizens of Ponyville. It was only a few days until Hearts Warming and everypony was in the holiday spirit. The children were playing in the snow, the tree was being decorated in the middle of town square, and many fun moments were had by all. Especially if you were one of the ponies playing with the children.

However, not everypony today was cheerful and happy. In fact, onepony wasn’t glad, but the complete opposite. He watched as siblings played with each other, raced each other and threw snowballs at one another. Wishing that his sister would one day return.

That’s what the half pony/half draconequus named Chaotic was thinking through his head. It had only been a few years ago since his sister, Eris, was frozen in stone with the human named Nicko during a great battle. Chaotic had friends, but most of them were friends of his parents and were much older than he was. The Hybrid pony was only ten years old and he barely had any friends that were his age.

Sighing to himself, he began to walk away. Only to hear something else near where the borderline of the everfree forest was. For a moment, it sounded like nothing but hoofsteps in the snow. But as he got closer, he found something completely different.

He found a white haired girl, sound asleep on a bed of snow. She looked peaceful, but Chaotic was worried about if she was cold or not. His lion paw soon touched the skin of the girl and felt her body heat.

“Phew…… That’s a good sign.”

Moments after saying that though, she began to open her eyes. “Ugh… W-why do I feel… cold?”

“Miss, are you okay?”

The girl slowly began to open her eyes. Her vision was blurry and her hearing was just returning to her. She could hear the voice of the hybrid pony calling to her, but could not see him. “H-hunh? Who’s there-?”

Around now was when Faith’s eyes met Chaotic for the first time in the past few minutes. Faith herself, was a little scared by Chaotics appearance. She even tried to push herself backwards to gain some distance until she felt the trunk of a tree.

“It’s okay! I’m not going to-.”

“Y-you can talk!?!” The girl reacted, shocked and confused. Chaotic now felt like he messed up and he looked down as his assorted paws and hooves. He only nodded his head, not even trying to look at her.

“I-i’m sorry if I…… well…… startled you.”

“It’s okay, I guess.” The White haired girl now decided to stand up as she looked at the creature in front of her. “I just haven’t seen a creature like you before…”

“Well, I’m a bit of a rare case so yeah. That’s what happens when my father is a Draconequus and my mother an alicorn… Speaking of which, what exactly are you?”

“I’m a human.”

Around now was when Faith now noticed that the clothes she fell asleep in were still there, but also felt something strange. Like it was flowing with her body. That’s also when she noticed the Small blade like objects that moved with her back and shoulder muscles.

For Chaotic right now, hearing that this girl was a human gave the hybrid pony a flicker of hope. He had heard of other humans that had arrived in Equus being strong and brave with powers that could surprise anypony. Maybe this girl… could help him.

“Miss. What is your name?”

“I’m Faith Nocte. Who are you?”

“My name? It’s Chaotic.”

“And what is an Alicorn and a Draconequus? Are they like different species?” Now Chaotic looked at Faith with a confused expression and a raised eyebrow. Despite the circumstances, he honestly did not expect for her to ask that question.

“Faith… Do you even know where you are?”

“ ………… No, not a clue actually. All I know is that I’m really far away from home… I think.” Chaotic personally sighed at this. No wonder she was unfamiliar with her surroundings. The girl had no freaking idea where she was for chao’s sake!! Taking a moment, he cleared his throat and tried to think the words through before saying it to her.

“You’re in Equestria, Faith.”

Those words had Faith’s eyes widen like a kid who was told the truth about Santa Claus.

“Y-you mean I’m in Equus?!”

Chaotic nodded his head, answering her question. Faith had been told about the world she was in before, but on as one of many stories her father had told her over the years. As she took in the scenery, her eyes now had a look of awe and wonder.

“Oh my…… This place is beautiful.”

“Um, Faith?”

“Yes, Chaotic?”

“I know this may be a little bit much to ask since you just came here recently and all that, but can you help me with something?”

The human herself, upon hearing this, wondered what the hybrid pony needed help with. Matter of fact, her help. She only woke up here a few minutes ago and now this new being she just met recently wanted her help? Man, events here fly by very fast. She nodded her head, following up the gesture with asking Chaotic the question that formed in her mind.

“Sure, but what exactly do you need me to help you with?”

“Trying to find my older sister, Eris. She’s been gone for some time and I sometimes worry if she’s okay. I promise to answer any questions that you might have.”

The White haired girl really liked her odds on this one. It really didn’t sound too dangerous or exhausting. What was the worst thing that could happen?

Back in Canterlot, the holiday fever could be felt all across the mountainside city. But mostly, inside the castle of the royal pony siblings. Several of the guards, including Caliburn, Flash Sentry, and Nobleheart were helping Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence and Prince Artemis decorate the hall of Elements while Discord and Gleaming Shield were trying to decorate the royal tree for the upcoming holiday.

Again… Trying.

“I honestly think it’s a good idea. Why can’t you agree with me, Gleamy?”

“Discord, when we were asked to decorate, nopony had the intention of wrapping strings of Kettle Corn around the tree!!”

“Oh come on! I think it looks Festive!! Chaotic would surely like it. Wouldn’t you-?” The Spirit of Chao turned around, only to be surprised to not see his young son behind him. Normally, he would appear almost anytime his name was called, even if he was all the way in his room. Now though… this was quite strange. Ten year olds do not have hearing problems so where is he?

“Chaotic? …… Buddy? …… Hello?”

No response at all; Not even a little Peep. The Draconequus now looked a bit worried. Celestia now noticed this and turned towards one of the guards that was assisting her. “Caliburn, could you please go to Chaotics room and check on him, Please?”

“Certainly, your highness.” The Blade Master wasted no time making his way through the hall and out of the throne room. He remembered the floor plans of the palace like the back of his mechanical hand and the room of Discord and Celestia’s son was no exception. The door to the hybrid pony’s room was no exception. The door to the hybrid pony’s room was with a steel door handle and Discords seal on the front. Knocking on the door and not hearing a response, Caliburn opened the unlocked door and stepped on inside.

Chaotic though, was nowhere to be found. The room was completely empty.

The earth pony’s mind went into Alert mode as he raced back to the Hall of Elements. He had to break the news to the Princess immediately.

End Log 1

Log 2- Rebirthing

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Rebirthing

The snow continued to lightly sprinkle around the Everfree forest as Chaotic and Faith walked through the snowy woodlands. The Hybrid pony and the human girl were traveling through the forest in search of Chaotics older sister, Eris. While walking, the young chaos spirit was wanting to learn more about his new friend. So, using whatever courage he had, Chaotic asked the first question that was on his mind.

“So um… Faith? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What is it?” came her response.

“What’s your family like?”

The question had Faith stop walking for a minutes so she could process it inside her head. “Well… my dad is very kind and helpful. My grandma and grandpa are sort of the same and so is my Uncle Leo. I don’t have any cousins or aunts from what I can remember and I don’t have any brothers or sisters.”

“What about your mother?” Chaotic asked, only to soon realize that he might have accidently crossed a personal boundary with his question.

“My mother… passed away when I was six. She went into cardiac arrest during a routine surgery and died.”

“I-i’m sorry. I didn’t know-.”

“It’s okay, Chaotic. It’s a thing in the past. I now need to just keep moving forward-.” The conversation between the two of them was soon cut short when they heard a trio of voices and the sounds of hooves coming closer to the two of them. The hybrid pony, reacted on instinct and disappeared into a puff of smoke. Faith though, had no idea where he vanished to.

“Chaotic? Where did you go-?”

“Don’t worry. I’m inside your mind and still here with you. I just needed to hide.” Chaotic told her mentally.

“Hide? From who?”

That’s when the Code: Nemesis saw three girls that came into view. All three of them looked older than she was. The first girl wore a red bow in her hair and wore a sweater that had a sewn on patch of a red apple. The second girl looked like a unicorn and had a winter coat and lavender scarf with a diamond on it. The final one though had a small pair of wings, but wore a red crystalline pendant, had a two handed claymore, and wore a set of clothes that resembled the weapon and accessory around her neck. When all three of them saw Faith, they all looked at her with confused expressions.

“Molly? What are you doing all the way out here?”

“Who’s Molly?” The Technomancer asked. The comment had the girls now even more confused then they were before.

“You don’t know who Molly is?”

“N-not really… I haven’t met many people here and was trying to enjoy a nice walk. My name is Faith.”

“Hi there, Faith.” The first girl introduced herself. “My name is Applebloom. This is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Enjoy your walk!” With a small cheer of passion, the three of them trotted down the path that Faith was walking on towards the town in the Distance. After a short while, Chaotic reappeared by Faith’s side and breathed a sigh of relief.

“That… was too close.”

“Why did you hide?” Faith asked.

“If anypony finds out that I’m out here, then I could get myself into some serious trouble.” The Hybrid pony told her. “Come on, let’s keep going.”

The two of them kept moving through the snowy conditions as they went deeper into the woods. They soon came across a strange tribal hut with some masks outside it and a new figure in tribal winter garments.

“Um… Hello?” Faith said, almost whisper like. She thought that the strange figure could not hear her. but that notion dispersed when the figure turned around and took off it’s hood. The first thing that she noticed was the stripes across her grey fur. It was a zebra.

“Hello to you, all the same. May I please know what is your name?” She asked in a rhyme. Faith herself wasn’t the best when it came to poetry, but she loved to come up with rhymes inside her head. Still, saying them was another thing because pronunciation could really get on her nerves at times.

“I’m Faith Nocte and this is my friend Chaotic.”

“Well, why don’t you come inside my hut and take a rest? It’s been a long time since I have had guests.”

Both hybrid pony and human looked at each other for a moment before they nodded their heads and took up the zebra on her offer. Upon entering, they found out that her name was Zecora and that she was a shaman that crafted potions and herbal remedies to cure illnesses. She gave them a cup of tea and had them enjoy the warmth by the fire that was covered by her cauldron. Zecora herself was interested by the unlikely pair. The shaman herself had a question for them.

“Well you two, dare I ask. Why do you come to the forest? What is your task?”

“We’re trying to find my sister.” The Draconequus/Pony hybrid answered cheerfully. It was an answer that the Zebra never expected. Then again, she never had many visitors besides Applebloom and her friends.

“A bold choice you have made. Perhaps, I can give you some aid.”

Before Faith or Chaotic could say anything, Zecora tossed a few herbs into the cauldrons mixture and had it churn and simmer. The mixture itself and it’s different colors soon formed pictures as the shaman briefly understood what they were. One by one, Zecora explained her findings before Faith and Chaotic left the hut.

When you reach a frozen creek,

follow it down to what you seek.

Then, when you both let your powers combine

the two of you will come across what you wish to find.

Half an hour later…

“Okay, NOW WE’RE LOST!!!”

It definitely felt like that for the two friends who were traveling based on the advice of a Kind Zebra Shaman. After thirty minutes of searching, all they found was a frozen riverbank with an old wooden bridge that was cracked and splintered. It was too damaged to cross safely and the ice looked too thin to walk across; not worth the risk.

“Chaotic, lets this positively for a second-.”

“Positively!? The bridge is busted and we’ll drown if we even try crossing it!!” Chaotic moaned in defeat, thinking that Faith for a moment sounded like his mother. “Even with my magic, I don’t think I can do it!”

Now that… made Faith a little curious. “Why’s that?”

“Like with all magic, there are limits. I still need to learn and improve with mine, despite the fact that it’s chaos magic and the rules don’t apply to it.” The Hybrid pony told the code queen. His kind of magic required three things in order for him to master it. The First was Imagination; the element that leads to creativity. The second is concentration; where you picture what you want to do or create and focus the magic needed to complete the spell. The final piece was energy; the physical stamina the body uses daily.

Chaotics father, Discord, called the sequence the “ICE” method after seeing this method used by a figure who specialized in creating objects, tools, and attacks out of snow and ice. He just decided to put his own twist on it. Instead of raining Icicles, he had it rain chocolate milk. Eris, Discords daughter, was also very talented in this field of magic and had used it numerous times when she helped several humans seven years ago.

The young Chaotic though, was a different case.

Despite the huge amount of imagination the youngster had, he lacked concentration. At times, Chaotic used up too much magic to pull off a simple spell that his father could do in a snap. He had been taking lessons with both of his parents, but nothing didn’t improve greatly. The hybrid pony even considered giving up due to the amount of times he had struggled with it.

Giving up though, was not an option right now. Especially if you were Faith right now. She wouldn’t even consider it given how far they have traveled in this weather. The Code Queen tried to remember Zecora’s Rhyme. Maybe there was something that she was overlooking.

When you reach a frozen creek, follow it down to what you seek.

She thought the words over and over, until realizing the key word in the sentence.

“I got it!”

“Got what? A plan to go across?”

“No silly,” The Cheerful girl told Chaotic. “We’re not suppose to cross the river. We’re suppose to follow along the edge! We follow the river to what we’re looking for!!” Faith explained as they soon ran along the side of the snowy riverbank. They continued to move like the wind for quite some time. During this time, Faith found out that with her costume, she could easily glide instead of run to get the fastest speed possible. Chaotic himself, just used his wings to follow alongside the Code Nemesis.

They enjoyed racing each other until they came to a wide open clearing. It was a huge circle like opening with snow covered trees, broken stones, and a statue near the back of it.

As they got closer, Faith had a strange feeling that something else was here besides the two of them. Something lurking nearby that made her feel cautious. Chaotic though, wasn’t focused on that. He was more focused on the statue. It showed a boy a little older than Faith with a half shirt, strange gloves that resembled belt straps, black pants with metal kneecaps and white baggy extensions, and grey metallic shoes with a gold medallion like object at the waist. He also had Markings on his shoulders that resembled the symbol on the Medallion. As for hair, it was simple; but had three hairbangs with the longest being on the back of his head. The boy also held a blunt sword backwards, which had the same symbol as the one on his shoulders. The last noticeable feature was the Necklace he wore. Taking everything in, the young girl thought like she had seen someone like this before.

“For some reason, I feel like my sister is in that statue…”

“But that statue is of a boy…” Faith pointed out.

“I know, but remember how I was hiding inside your mind earlier? What if Eris was inside this boy when this happened?”

The youngster brought up a very good point. Now though, Faith began to hear some slight movement. Looking at her feet, she saw the stones that were around them move behind the young girl. Turning around, she saw a creature form from the snow, stones and blowing winds. Her eyes widened at the sight and her blood felt like it was freezing. The fierce glowing eyes of the creature made her feel like she was staring at a wild beast.

Chaotic though, was too focused on the statue. “If Eris were here, I wonder what she would say-.”

“Look out!!!”

“Wow Faith, you sound a lot like her-.”

A piercing roar cut off the hybrid pony’s second sentence as Chaotic turned around and slipped onto the ground. The snow of the creature hardened into Ice as it tried to strike the pair of them, only to be blocked by Faith’s spears that came up when she put her arms out in front of her.

Chaotic though, saw something that Faith couldn’t see. “Faith, to your right!!”

Before she could react, the young girl was slammed by a frozen fist that threw her backwards and almost hit a tree. Chaotic himself tried to hide as the human tried to regain her footing.

‘How am I suppose to beat this thing?’ She asked herself as it turned towards her again. But she then heard two other voices that weren’t Chaotics.

‘Not alone, my queen.’

‘W-who said that?’ Faith rasped mentally, looking around.

‘We did, Faith. After all, you said that we give you confidence.’

That’s when things began to sink inside her brain as she realized who was talking to her in that moment in time. ‘M-moby? Remy!? Is this real?’

‘Of course, Ms. Faith. We’re here to protect you and serve your every needs. We’ve been with you since your father gave you to us. Now, summon us and we can help you protect you and your friend.’

Faith then looked at Chaotic, who was busy trying to run from the oversized monster that they were facing. Something that worked like a computer scan went off and she identified the attacker as a “Blizzard Construct” that others would refer to as a elemental golem. With a sigh, she got up and strongly stood on her feet.

‘Okay. How do I summon you two?’

‘Snap your fingers by your ears. We’ll take care of the rest.’

Listening to the advice of Moby, Faith followed the steps that the drone had told her. Moving her hands up, she snapped both of her fingers and her earrings began to glow. The light being emitted from them catching the attention of the golem that was trying to go after Chaotic. When the Hybrid pony looked at his friend again, he thought that he was looking at a different Faith. Like she had changed…

“Hey BLOCKHEAD!!” She taunted as her two new weapons, Moby and Remy, we’re now at her side and ready to fight. Faith herself, had obtained newfound confidence as the Code Nemesis readied herself for combat. “Back off from my friend or else you’re going to be in for a world of hurt!!”

The golem redirected its focus to her as it prepared to strike her again. This time though, Faith swiftly moved to the right and avoided her opponents attack, countering her with a few solid strikes of her own before getting to where Chaotic was and letting him get inside her mind.

‘You should be safe in here. Leave this to me.’

‘Aww… Can’t I help with something please??? I’ll just get bored if I don’t do something to help.’

‘How about you be a second pair of eyes and watch my blindspot for incoming attacks.’

‘I’m okay with that.’ Chaotic replied as Faith got back to focusing on her fight with the monster she was up against. It didn’t take long for the Golem to fight back, but it’s hulking size affected it’s speed. This allowed Faith to be able to gain the upper hand thanks to Chaotics help and Moby & Remy’s guidance and combat instructions. Soon, she was able to pull off her first skill that helped her obtain victory against the behemoth.

A swarm of mini-nasod drones formed around her left hand as she put it above her head and then lashed out like a whip. “EXPLOSIVE IMPACT!!”

The attack and the results of it caused the golem to explode into pieces because of the shockwave of the explosion, turning into dust. Faith, despite being a little sore and tired, was very proud of her accomplishment of defeating her first enemy as Chaotic reemerged from her body.

“Well, that was fun!” The son of Discord happily spoke as he gave Faith a High five with his lion paw. “Teamwork, for the win!!”

“Yeah, but maybe we should focus more on the statue now.” Faith said as she directed her attention to Moby and Remy, who were already scanning the statue from all sides and angles. Soon, the drones reported their findings.

“According to our analysis, the subject seems to currently be in a state of Terra-Stasis.”

“Terra-What?”

“It’s a definition that refers to when one is turned to stone.” Remy explained to the puzzled Hybrid pony to clear up any confusion. “From the texture of the rock, we can say that this person has been in this state for quite some time. Freeing him might be another task though.” Soon, both drones returned to their standby stand as earrings as Faith and Chaotic looked at each other. Trying to figure out how to break this person free. Now was when the second half of Zecora’s rhyme came into play.

Then, when you both let your powers combine

the two of you will come across what you wish to find.

“Hey, I just thought of something…” Chaotic asked.

“What is it?”

“What if you put your hand on where the boy’s heart would be?.”

“I guess that could work… Here goes nothing.”

With Chaotic hiding behind her and holding her at the waist, Faith laid a hand onto where the boy’s heart would be and closed her eyes. She felt it beating like a drum as the statue glowed a warm sky blue. A bright flash went off a few seconds later as it blinded their vision and made it hard for them to see. When the lights died down, they saw two figures lying in the snow as they just started to wake up. One of them, Chaotic could recognize right away.

“Uhh…… W-we’re alive?”

“ERIS!!!”

Without warning, Chaotic threw himself into his big sister. The hybrid pony hugged her tightly as Eris was trying to figure out what was going on. “C-chaotic!? Is that you!!? Man, you’ve grown!”

“I-i can’t believe I found you! I’ve missed you for so long!!”

The two siblings of Discord hugged each other tightly, finally reuniting after being separated from each other for a long seven years. Around though was when Eris also noticed the state of her partner, Nicko. He too… was dazed and confused. “Ugh… my head.”

“Nicko? Are you okay?”

“Eris? W-where are we?” The Rune Slayer asked, noticing the snowy trees and frozen river.

“Everfree forest.” Chaotic answered the question for him. “We found you and freed you from being in that stone statue-.”

“Wait a minute… We?”

Before Chaotic could answer Nicko’s new question, the boy say an outstretched hand from a girl that was younger than he was. Much younger. “Are you alright, Mister?”

“Y-yeah. Just… readjusting.” Nicko replied as he scratched the back of the head. He heard the girl ask what his name was around the same time that he was wearing a Code: Nemesis outfit and thought that he came to Equestria the same way he did or like any other Displaced he met like Ryu and Jack. Taking her hand and getting up from the cold ground, he then answered her question.

“My name is Nicko.”

The young girl then giggled a little after she heard the reply. For a moment, Nicko wondered why she was laughing. Was it something on his face? Something he said? Or was it just out of pure instinct. That’s when she spoke. “Heehee… you look a lot like my dad. Almost sound like him too.”

Wait, her dad? That didn’t make any sense. Matter of fact, who was this girl? “What is your name, miss?”

“My name is Faith Nocte.”

“Okay, hold on a second… My last name is Nocte.” The Rune Slayer responded. For both Faith and Nicko, this did not make any sense at all. How exactly was their last name the same? Backing up for a minute, Nicko referred back to the statement before she said her name. “You said I look a lot like your dad right?”

Faith’s reply was just a simple nod of the head, followed by a “Yes.”

“Could you care to tell me a little more about him, please?”

Faith obliged to Nicko’s question, telling him everything she knew about her dad. How he was a great father, storyteller and caretaker. But when her mother passed away, Faith began to worry for him because he wasn’t as happy as he used to be. When she wished to find a way to cheer him up, that’s when she woke up in Equestria.

“I see… Faith right?”

“Yes, Nicko?”

“Would you happen to know what your dads name is?”

“Yeah, his name is Anson.”

Those five words shook Nicko to the core. He was beyond shocked at this point and so was Eris. Last time Nicko saw him, they were both 18. Now the Rune Slayer was around 25 years old with this twelve year old girl who just told him Anson was her father. He only had one response.

“MY BROTHER IS YOUR FATHER!?!!”

Nicko’s reaction was followed by a chain reaction from the young girl, who was just as shocked as he was. “MY DAD IS YOUR BROTHER?!!!”

After the freakout between both of them, it took some time to explain everything to Faith and Chaotic from their onward and also explained how they were turned to stone in the first place. During this, Faith realized that one of her favorite stories that she was told about as a child was actually real. Heroes do exist. Her father was the Infinity Sword and Nicko was the Rune Slayer.

Both of them were the twin brothers that she admired as her childhood heroes.

But the biggest revelation of them all during this moment actually came from Eris. “Hey-correct me if I’m wrong here- but if Anson is Faith’s father and Nicko’s brother, wouldn’t that make Nicko… Faith’s Uncle?”

Faith herself was confused by the thought. “But I already have an Uncle and he knows dad.”

“Families can have more than one-...... Wait a minute, what do you mean by that?”

“I have an Uncle! His name is Leo!!”

Now Nicko felt like he just blindsided by a freaking freight train of surprises. Anson was her father and Leo was her uncle!?! This was too much shock to the system for the Rune Slayer, but he was soon told by Faith that he was adopted into the family a long time ago. Which made him have a bit of a better understanding.

“So, since we found you, what do we do now?”

“Well first off,” Eris spoke this time. “I think you two need some proper winter clothes. It’s getting quite cold out here.”

Chaotic agreed with his older sister and with a quick snap, both Faith and Nicko had a new set of clothes. Nicko’s clothes was a Red Devil Hunter outfit with a long coat and a new look to his old greatsword. As for Faith, she was wearing the dress that was commonly worn by the Code: Exotic. The two of them felt very comfortable with their new outfits and thanked Eris for them.

“Alright, what now?”

“My guess… We should go to Ponyville. It’s the closest town nearby and it’s a possibility that Twilight is at her castle.”

“Wait a second… Castle?” Nicko asked. “I thought she lived in a library.”

“The library got blown up a few years ago.”

“ ……… Okay, I’m not even going to ask how that happened. Let’s get going.” With that, Eris and Chaotic his themselves in Both Nicko and Faith as they began to make the trek back to Ponyville.

Some time later…

It was a little bit after noon and the citizens in the streets of Ponyville quite busy. Some were buying gifts for Hearts Warming while others were talking to relatives or family friend. The children were playing in the streets as well as on the outskirts of town. Not much attention was on the two humans when they first entered Ponyville. In fact, nopony could notice or recognize them, which was kind of a good thing since Nicko wanted to surprise Twilight and that can’t be accomplished if somepony recognized you. It’s another reason why the new shirt under his coat had a turtle neck and he was thankful for it.

As they turned around another corner, both Nocte’s could see the crystalline structure that was the castle of friendship. It towered over Ponyville and almost resembled a tree. But nevertheless, it still looked beautiful on the outside. There were no guards outside since most of them patrolled the area in patterns. No one was at the door. Maybe Twilight hired a bouncer or had Spike be the door dragon like the assistant that he normally was last time he was awake.

Nicko soon knocked on the door, expecting a purple dragon to open it. But what he got was truly… unexpected.

“Hello there, sir. You wouldn’t happen to be a door to door salesman, would you? Because I have one thing to say to-.”

“Y-yuri? Is that you?”

The Foxgirl that held a spear at the door soon recognized the red haired teen after a few minutes. “Holy Sh*t, Nicko!!” Her hands soon lashed out in a big hug that made him think that Yuri had taken some pointers from Pinkie Pie. “Y-you’re alive!!”

“Indeed I am.”

“Who’s she, Uncle Nicko?”

The comment from Faith caused Yuri’s ears to twitch a little as she looked at her. “Is it just me or did I her this girl call you Uncle?”

“You’re not the only one who’s found that out. Maybe we should talk about it more once we’re inside.”

“Good idea.” The Maid replied as she welcomed them in, allowing them to hang their weapons on the weapon rack and also hand up their coats. Despite the kind gesture, Nicko kept his coat on because it made him feel like a badass and just kept his new sword it it’s respected sheath. “So what’s this I’m hearing about you being an Uncle?”

“I suppose that Anson went back home.”

“Yeah, he did so a week after your accident. Not like Amy. In fact, any incidents regarding her now have a specific code name from Celestia.”

“Oh really? What’s that?”

“Control F-U.”

“Yuri! Not around kids!!” Nicko stammered. He rather not have his niece asking what that phrase meant and then repeating it all over Ponyville. As they came into what appeared to be a living room, the two of them could hear another voice.

“Yuri? Are you bringing in guests that I’m not aware about-.”

Nicko turned around, only to have his jaw drop at what he saw. It was Spike. But he was a LOT taller than he was before. Like the dragon had hit a massive growth spurt. “Spike? Oh my god, you’ve grown!!”

“Is that… Nicko?” Spike asked. Yuri nodded her head, causing the dragon to grin a little. “Well now, you’re still…… short.”

“Why you little-!!”

“Hold on a second. Who’s the girl behind you?” The Dragon asked. Yuri personally sighed as she looked at all three of them.

“Why don’t you all take a seat. I’m sure we have some explaining to do.”

At this point, Eris and Chaotic decided to emerge from both Nicko and Faith to join “Second Mother” Yuri and Spike. Faith began the talk, saying about how she ended up in Ponyville and also about her family. Yuri herself was quite surprised to hear that Anson was her dad, Leo was one of her Uncles besides Nicko and that Luke and Ciela were now grandma and grandpa. She honestly never thought that someone around Ciela’s age and height would have the stamina to be able to keep up with Faith, but her retelling of the two of them playing in the snow made her rethink that twice.

“That’s quite a story, Faith. I’m sure Nicko has told you his?”

Nicko nodded his head. “Yeah. But I have a question. What happened to the old library?”

Both Yuri and Spike looked at each other before looking about them. Nicko, Faith and the two Chaos Siblings looked to see a chandelier that resembled the roots of a tree. Glowing with lights that represented each of the Mane six.

“A few years ago, A centaur by the name of Lord Tirek broke out of his cell in Tartarus Prison and began to siphon the magic from all living things in Equestria. After capturing Twilight’s friends, the Centaur attempted to attack the Princess pre-emptively and destroy her home. I was with Jade at the time it happened and when the three of us clashed with him, Jade got sent flying to who knows where while Twilight and I were barely able to hold on our own. Tirek has now been beaten and is back in his prison, but Jade…… she still hasn’t come back home yet. I’m just…… worried about her.”

Nicko had no idea about that. He always saw Yuri as relaxed and composed. But this was different. A lot different. “When did this happen?”

“Seven years ago… Three weeks after the fight against Eric.”

Now this had Nicko thinking of something. How exactly was Anson older than him? Was their some kind of difference in time? “Faith? How old is your dad?”

“Let’s see… about 39.”

“What the buck!? Are you serious?!”

“Spike, Language!”

“Sorry, Yuri.”

“Yeah, it said 39 the last time Uncle Leo and I made his Birthday cake.”

Now things were beginning to click inside Nicko’s head. He should be about 25, and if Anson was 39… Given that they were the same age when they were encased in stone…

“Oh my god… Yuri… I just found out something.”

“What’s that?”

“Time flows differently between my home and here. One year here is three years there. That’s how come my brother and I are different in age!”

Hearing this though, now had Faith worried. If what her Uncle said was true, then what if she wasn’t back home in time when the holidays came around? She would miss Christmas with her father and miss on the chance that she would get to make him feel happy again. “Yuri, could there be a way for me to go home?”

“I’m not sure. It’s possible. But it might take some time.”

“How long?”

“About a few weeks-.”

“We need that sooner.” Nicko interjected. “What date is today?”

“December 16th?”

“And Faith, what date is it back home?”

“December 1st?”

Nicko took a moment to process this, before coming to a conclusion. “Yuri, whatever that solution is. We need it in Eight days.”

Both the Sakra Devanam and the Dragon looked at him in shock. “Eight days? Are you crazy!? Why eight?”

“Because at the end of those eight days, Earth and Equis will be on the date of December 24th, or as I would call Christmas Eve. Faith wants to be home in time for Christmas for Anson and I’m going to make sure that happens.”

Now realizing this, Yuri was intrigued by the Rune Slayer’s plans. “I see your point. Maybe I can have Molly help-.”

“Uh, Yuri. I hate to burst your bubble, but Molly is with Amy and Jane in Manehattan in Hayzil.”

Hayzil

“SUNBUTT WANTS A HUG!!!”

“Oh yeah… Right. Well, I guess we’ll have to make due till they return. They’ll probably be back after tomorrow.”

“What about Twilight and the girls?”

“Left for Canterlot this morning to help Celestia with arrangements for Hearts Warming. They’ll be back tomorrow, but for right now, you should rest. You’re probably tired after being outside for the past few hours.”

The Sakra Devanam brought up a very good point. Nicko was still partially weak from first waking up and Faith was probably exhausted as well. Taking up Yuri on her suggestion, Spike helped cook some lunch for the two of them while Yuri got some rooms set up for them since they might be staying a while. Chaotic decided to go back home so he didn’t make Celestia and Discord worry about his Safety; but Eris decided to stay with Nicko. That way, they could surprise Twilight and the others tomorrow.

Inside the Room that was set up for him, Nicko took some time to rest his achy bones. But in doing so, came across something that surprised him. It was a small chest like box that looked like something you would keep a diary in. But when Nicko opened it, he found something that surprised him. The small chest was filled with various Items. A Marble looking stone that looked like a cat’s eye, colored purple and blue; A mark of a Dragon with Bold fiery eyes and a metal face, and numerous other items.

“Well, it seems like you found the box.”

Nicko looked up to see Yuri by the door to his room. The Rune Slayer set the box down and looked back at the Sakra Devanam. “What exactly are these?”

“Spike remembered your brother saying that you liked any items you would consider as unique, so he took any spare items that either he or the Cutie Mark Crusaders have found and placed it in a box. Almost like a time capsule for when you come back.”

“Well, I’m quite surprised by what’s in here.” The Rune Slayer began to speak. “But I wonder something… Did you remember at all if Amy told you something about being a Displaced?”

“Yeah, she told me about it after we met a girl called Kat who could shift gravity.”

“Well, numerous Displaced have different tokens that are used to summon them. Something tells me that these might me more than just simple trinkets.”

To an extent, Nicko was right. He was unaware that due to his time in stone and his mastery in Rune Magic, the boy could now feel the magic of other beings. Almost like a sixth sense. Not only that, but he could use magic as a source of energy to restore the body. Almost like Natsu in Fairy Tail whenever he ate fire.

“Well, I’ll leave you to figuring it out on your own time.” Yuri told him as she left the room. “I’ll call you later when Dinner is ready.”

Nicko himself nodded. Remembering that he still had his bag on him, Nicko took out the hard cover journal that he had that contained Starswirl’s notes on his powers. Now though, was when he noticed that half of the book… was now empty. Like more pages were added on to it without him knowing.

‘Well, that’s new.’ Eris told him mentally inside his mind. Nicko just chuckled.

‘Well, this is technically ours now. So, why not use it as a log to record our adventures?’

‘That sounds like a great idea, Nicky.’ Eris told him. She soon used her Chaos magic to bring out a pen as he began to write what came to mind.

Log 1- Today has been a day of ups and downs. Last time I was awake and alive, I remember myself being a human shield to protect my brother. Now, I found myself freed by a girl who turns out to be my brothers daughter. I’ve only been in stone for seven freaking years and I now find out that I have a niece?! Talk about a reality check. Anyways, I hope I can figure out a way for the two of us to find a way to travel between home and Equis in order to see my family again. But I also want to find out more about the Displaced as well. See some new faces and reunite with people I’ve already seen before like Ryu. I hope I can get to all of these soon.

-Nicko Nocte, The Rune Slayer

The Rune Slayer closed the book and then put it back in his bag as he returned his attention towards the box of trinkets. One of them, caught his eye as he picked it up. It looked like a frozen teardrop. One of a goddess. Curious, he looked at it from all angles. Wondering how it worked. Possibly like how Anson did it with the snowflake of Jack Frost? Maybe.

“Well, I got some time to kill. So why not?”

With that, he channeled some magic into the teardrop, creating a portal that looked like a doorway. Eris stood next to him as they looked at the door and then at each other.

“You ready, Nicky?”

“As always.”

With that, Eris returned to Nicko’s body and ran through the gateway that closed behind him. Not knowing what to expect at all.

End Log 2

Log 3- Somewhere in Equestria

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Somewhere in Equestria

Yuri was just calmly going through the shelves and sweeping through them to remove any dust she found. Her duty as a maid drove her to make sure that the castle was in tip top shape by the time Princess Twilight returned home. Upon returning to the room Nicko and Eris were in, she was surprised to find it empty. That was… until she found a note on the coffee table that was written very hastily. The handwriting almost looked like Amy’s chicken scratch when she had a look at the note that was there.

Going to go explore a little. Will be back in time for dinner.

-Nicko.

The Sakra Devanam just chuckled a little, unaware of the fact of Nicko and Eris being gone the same way Amy would when she went off to another world. “Heh… Seems like Nicko is still young at heart despite his age.

Canterlot (Bryce’s World)

Changelings at times were like Termites. When it came to them setting their hooves in Canterlot, the guards would have to round them up and either capture or exterminate them. Of course though, what was bothersome about these critters was that they could disguise themselves as anypony else. Which of course, is a neat trick. But when your opponent has a sledgehammer that turns out to be a cannon as well… neat tricks don’t help.

“So… Let me get this straight… You were in your room… woke up to three changelings inside there and then just blasted them?”

“Yes, Princess.” The Human named Bryce told the Alicorn moments after her and her little sister, Luna, came out of their chambers when Luna had woken her up swiftly, saying their guest was in trouble. “Luna sensed an illusion spell in my room while I was asleep. Earlier when I fought ‘em, they had some sort of illusion going on, so I made a connection. Luna woke me up in the nick of time, honestly.”

“You are most welcome, Sir Bryce.” The Lunar Princess replied to the comment. “We’re sorry about the disturbance in your rest, yet also happy the wards in the castle worked.” The human waved her off with a grand smile.

“No worries Luna. And please, none of that Sir on me. I ain’t that old.”

Luna herself giggled for a moment. But soon, a bright flash went off outside. Almost like a filly messing with fireworks. Curiosity now filled the air like a fragrance as it attracted the attention of the Princesses and also Prince Blueblood, who was also called in to hear the news of the attack. Bryce, for being a tad angered by the attempt by the changelings, sighed and reached for the hammer resting on the ground beside him. “I swear if I see one more god damn changeling…”

Garden

Nicko’s entrance into this world wasn’t quite the entrance he would want to have if had to decide. He felt like he was thrown onto the ground, his face hitting the dirt. But he also heard a small CRUNCH! when he made his landing.

“God, do I feel rusty.”

‘Well, it has been seven years since you and I have last moved on our own.’

‘Which was how long in stone?’

‘Felt like 7 hours.’

‘My point exactly.’ Nicko thought as he got himself up off the ground. He heard the crunch again, looking down to see what exactly he landed on. It was a changeling. Unconscious, but with Nicko stepping on him just now, he might’ve popped one of it’s arteries as he saw his shoe covered in changeling guts.

“Eww. Gross!!”

‘Oh grow up… Baby.’ Eris chuckled a little. ‘Get ready. We got company, three o’ clock.’

Turning around to his right, Nicko began to barely make out who was there because of the limited visibility. He saw four figures. Two he recognized. One looked like Celestia. Another looked like Prince Blueblood; the jackass who offended Molly back in his Equestria. The two other figure he couldn’t make out. But for some reason… one looked…

Human.

“Eris…”

“Who the f*ck is Eris?” The Human said with a gruff voice. It would also be noted that there was a small light, though not powerful, coming from the head of what looked like a staff with a large head, and aimed right at Nicko. “Anyone got a light?”

Before anypony could answer, Nicko placed a Medium sized Rune above his head, lighting up the garden in an vibrant glow. “Does that count?”

The group being able to see clearly, had mixed reactions. Celestia and the strange mare looked up at the rune, while the Human and Blueblood looked at the caster. The Human gawked, and promptly dropped the staff. “Woah! Holy mother of-I nearly shot a kid!”

“I’m not a kid. I was 18… if you don’t tack on the seven years I was encased. Then I would be 25.” The Rune Slayer looked back at the human with the staff. “Well, I guess we should introduce ourselves. Ladies first.”

Both of the mares bowed their heads, Celestia speaking first. “I am Celestia, Princess of Equestria and Diarch of the Sun. This is my sister, Luna, my fellow Princess and sister, and Diarch of the Moon.” Luna smiled gently alongside her sister as she was introduced.

“Well, I am Nicko Nocte. Rune Slayer and Displaced. If that counts as a title… but whatever. There’s still some differences I need to get adjusted to between here and there.”

“Pardon us, but could you define here and there?” Luna then asked politely. Nicko sighed politely.

“Certainly, but to understand it a little. I might need to pick your brains a little… Figuratively, I might add. Not actually.”

The Human rubbed his chin before reaching to pick up the staff, hefting it up, before twisting the handle slightly. The head of the staff collapsed in on itself, till it formed the head of a hammer, to with he dug the end of the pole into the ground and leaned against. “Fire away! I’m just giddy to see I’m not the only human! Just got here earlier today.” He said with a genuine smile.

“Well, this may be a bit of a surprise for you then.” Nicko told him. “There are others, but they’re not here. They’re like me. They’re Displaced.”

“And what does that term mean, Sir Nicko?” Luna asked the follow up question. The Rune Slayer grinned a little. The possibility right now was none of them ever heard anything related to this before. So he had to take it nice and slow.

“Displaced means Dimensionally Misplaced. According to the Multiverse theory, they’re are multiple versions of Equestria. Some with differences that could range from small to big. Where I’m from, Celestia doesn’t have a little sister, but a little brother named Artemis.”

“But what other proof do you have that shows your speaking the truth?” Blueblood asked, cautiously. Nicko smiled a little, adjusting his neck.

“Remember when you asking me who was Eris. Well, maybe you should meet her.” Before any other questions can be asked, Eris took form from Nicko’s body and then stood next to him. For a moment, everypony looked tense. But Nicko was assuring with his gestures.

“Easy there. She’s a friend of mine and my companion. We’ve been through a lot together and where I’m from, she’s Discords daughter.”

While this got frowns from the two ruling sister’s and a curious glance from their nephew, the Human was scratching his head. He really seemed to be struggling to take it all in. “Well. That kills my mood. So there’s more like me, and now I’m a Displaced? What a day….Oh, crap. I almost forgot. The name’s Bryce, by the way. Pleasure to meet you both.” He said with a grand smile, extending one hand while the other held his hammer.

Nicko himself took the hand and shook it. “Same here, Bryce. We should continue this conversation inside where there’s a bit more light. I don’t want to burn all of my mana by keeping this rune up.” Turning to Celestia, he then remembered the changeling that he stepped on and turned a bit as he shook the leftover guts off of his foot. “Oh yeah, you might want to take that Changeling right there into custody. It’s unconscious, but I think I might’ve stepped on it and popped one of it’s arteries on accident.”

Noticing what the boy meant, The Princess was quick to call the guards to seize the changeling. Eris herself went body into Nicko’s mind so she wouldn’t startle the guard ponies that were attending to the captive prisoner. Once they escorted it away, the two humans followed the two Princesses to the Hall of Elements while Prince Blueblood excused himself so he could return to his living quarters and get some rest. Nicko was beginning to wonder a little bit about Bryce. Judging on body language and reactions, he seemed to be new to this. But couldn’t really tell. Damn it, he hated it when his Autism affected his perceptions.

Soon, the four of them entered the Hall of Elements. It was much bigger than Nicko last remembered. Then again, it had been quite some time since he was in Canterlot so he shouldn't be one to judge. “So, do you have any other questions?” The Rune Slayer asked kindly.

“I have one, if I may.” Celestia interjected. “If what you say about there being multiple dimensions is true, then how were you able to travel to ours?”

“Ah yes, a very good question if I do say so myself.” Nicko complimented the Princess. “Well, the thing with each Displaced is that they each have something called a summoning token.” He paused for a minute, pulling out his token from his pocket and tossing it to Bryce so he could have a closer look. “That one is mine, A Mark of the Rune Slayer. As I was saying, different Displaced have different Tokens and either you can summon them to you or you can summon yourself to them; either on your own or accidently get pulled in like a magnet.”

This, made Bryce curious. What exactly would the boy have found in order for him to come to his world? Before he could say the words though, Luna beat him too it. “And what kind of token did you find to bring yourself here?”

Around now, Eris re-emerged from Nicko and got behind Luna. Doing a simple trick that a showpony magician would do, the chaos spirit had the crystalline artifact that Nicko found appear from the Night Princesses ear before floating it over to Nicko. Bryce though, could recognize the item. It was known as a Tear of the Goddess, an Item in League of Legends that can have the champion restore their mana over time. He was actually surprised that the boy found something like that.

“This lead me to here. A little bit of magic channeling lead to me opening a doorway that brought me here once I entered. Next thing I know, I’m in your garden.”

Bryce took a moment before chuckling as he looked at Nicko's mark. "Figures that would be my mark. Was considered as a well recommended item in the game my hammer and outfit come from. It's a Tear of the Goddess. It's a mana regeneration item, but with a second ability. No idea if that one has it, but for every spell cast, the Tear grows stronger, giving the bearer a larger mana pool." He explained before looking back to Nicko.

The Princesses seemed truly intrigued by the explanation, and the item in question. Bryce made to hand Nicko’s token back to him. "Again. This is all new to me. Like I said, I got sent here earlier today. By a frickin' moogle too."

“I understand man. Oh and keep the token. You can use it to summon me if you’re in trouble or anything like that.” The Rune Slayer told him in an assuring tone. “I’m also curious about something else. How do you fight with that weapon of yours?” The Huge Hammer reminded the adventurer of Nora Valkyrie’s weapon in RWBY, where it was half hammer-half grenade launcher.

Bryce then took a moment to explain, telling him how his weapon was both a hammer and shock cannon, with different abilities for both forms of his weapon. He also explained that his weapons Hextech Capacitor allowed him to be quicker on his feet everytime he transformed his weapon from Hammer to Cannon and so on. Nicko himself was quite impressed. But also noticed a few things that could be flaws for Bryce when he got himself in combat.

Mainly, his weapon was used only for combat purposes. If you had a cannon, then you could possibly gain extra speed by firing yourself towards an opponent at break-neck speed. Additionally, the weapon required you to use both hands and more arm strength to move it. Nicko’s blade only required one hand, but he used two sometimes to provide extra force to his attacks. Additionally, it was the right weight so he could combine his blade with his magic.

Speaking of Magic, Luna had the thought on her mind and then proceeded to speak. “I’m curious on one thing, Nicko. What kind of magic do you use?”

“Rune Magic.”

“I’m sorry. Did you say Prune?” She asked for clarification

Nicko shook his head. “Rune. With an R.” Demonstrating what he meant, the warrior conjured a rune almost identical to the one in the garden in the palm of his hand.

Bryce leaned forward after setting his hammer on the ground, staring at the rune curiously, while pocketing the mark. “Huh. Kinda like Riven’s sword from League, though in a magic form…” He tapped his chin as he looked to Nicko, then shrugged. “But, that was just her weapon.”

Celestia looked closely at the rune as well, but nothing more. After awhile she smiled gently. “It explains how you summoned the light, Nicko. Though we do not have that here.” She giggled. “I am glad my student is in Ponyville. She would be bombarding you with over a thousand questions right now.” This got a chuckle from Luna and one confused look from Bryce.

“I see what you mean. The Twilight in my world would do the exact same thing. In my world though, they did have that magic. But it was an old sorcery that was thought to be lost with the death of Starswirl the Bearded. But I can do more than just conjure runes.”

This got the attention of all three, but mainly Celestia and Luna. "Oh? And what more can you do with such magic?" The younger asked, interlocking her fingers as she tried to contain herself. Nicko smiled a little, but to make sure that everything was under control, he turned to Eris. The Draconequus formed what looked like a transparent cube inside her paw and talon, which soon expanded to fit the rest of the room.

Both sisters were surprised by this. But soon, Eris explained her reasoning. “Calm yourselves, my dear princesses. It’s just a containment spell. That way, we don’t accidently damage anything within the Hall of Elements.”

Celestia smiled softly while she and Luna calmed down. "Sorry. Our Discord has been reformed and all, but even his spells still make my sister and I jumpy." Bryce however, was leaning against his hammer again as he watched, grinning like a lunatic.

"I can't wait. If the Tear has its abilities, then it'd be a good thing for you to keep on ya, Nicko. More mana, and less time for it to take in coming back."

“Tempting, but I’ll pass. Anyways, my runes can take many forms. For example, I can conjure them to have them Detonate as an explosion, have them form blades of magic, slow down my opponents passively and form fire. In addition, I can enhance my powers for a brief amount of time using Phoenix Talon. Of course though, thanks to the teachings of a fellow Displaced named Ryu, he taught me how to use my powers in multiple methods. Diversity can lead to Mastery.”

To demonstrate, Nicko used his Splash Explosion skill on the soles of his feet to move from one point in the hall to another in a brief burst of speed. The two sisters were quite impressed with the Rune Slayer’s abilities. It was unlike anything they’ve seen before.

Bryce was shaking his head, still having trouble wrapping his head around it. "Sheesh, Nicko. You could probably hand it to me in a fight, even IF I knew how to fight with this." He said, tapping his Mercury Hammer. "But please do go on. What else can you do?"

“Quite a lot of things, but it all relates to how I use my Mana. Additionally, I have a trump card for if a fight is dragged out too long, but that’s in extreme cases.” The adventurer replied. “Additionally, there’s the passive ability of mine called The Way of the Sword, which in return refers to the spells I cast and the attacks I do.”

To show what he meant, Eris conjured two doppelgangers of Nicko. One being a transparent blue. The other one being a darkish red. “The one on the left is when I obtain the Aura of Vitality, which in turn means that it’ll take less mana for me to cast spells and restore mana over time. On the right, theres Spirit of Destruction. An enchantment that adds more strength to my attacks and can also stagger opponents if they try to hit me. However, these enchantments don't last long, but are useful in emergencies.”

Bryce and the princesses watched the explanation and presentation silently as they all wrapped their heads around what he said about his auras. Luna rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmmm. It reminds us of the spells unicorns in the guard are taught when supporting a group of their fellows. Though, they can only cast and keep up one spell like this at a time, and each spell has only one effect. Concentration is key in that field."

Celestia nodded. "Indeed, Luna. While such spells so not require too much aptitude, they need to be constantly maintained in a battle, and the amount of strain on the user increases for every other the caster is lending power to."

Bryce chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Wow. And I thought spell casting was easy for you all."

“Like with anything, it takes time. I learned my abilities through my skill book. I bet you’ll become accustomed to your skills once you know how to control your weapon.” The Rune Slayer told Bryce. “You can probably use both forms of your weapon to assist you in more ways than one. Like launching yourself forward for a boost of speed with your cannon.” He could tell the expression on Bryce’s face. One that was like “Why did I not think of that!?” that made the Rune Slayer chuckle a little.

“Uh, Nicko. I hate to ruin all the fun, but we gotta go back.” Eris told him. “Faith and Yuri are probably waiting for us for Dinner.”

“Ah crap, you’re right.” Nicko retorted, noticing the time on a nearby grandfather clock, which really caught him by surprise. “My apologies for having this meeting be cut short. I got places to go and people to catch up with. Turns out, I have a niece who’s stuck in the same situation as I am.”

“Alright, safe travels to both of you!” Celestia called out as the two of them formed the return portal home using Nicko’s own token that he kept on him.

“You too. Oh and Bryce, if you need any help at all, go ahead and summon us. I’ll be glad to assist.”

Bryce happily nodded and stuck his hand out for one last shake. "Same here Nicko! Maybe when you call I'll have a few tricks to show off! By the way! What's your niece's name?"

“Her name is Faith.” Nicko answered Bryce’s question before waving goodbye. Eris returned to Nicko’s mind as the Rune Slayer stepped on through the gateway. Once the gateway disappeared, the containment spell also faded away; leaving the two sisters and the human inside the Hall of Elements on their own. As they looked at each other, Luna sighed.

“Well, I think I speak for everypony when I say that we should catch up on our sleep.”

Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s world)

Shortly, Nicko soon returned to the quarters that served as his room. Looking at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was about 6pm. Sighing a bit, he took off his outer coat and hung up his sword as he made was to the castle’s dining room. There, he saw Faith and Yuri setting up the table while he heard Spike cooking dinner in the kitchen.

“Welcome back.” Yuri said to him. “How was your exploration?”

“It went well. Glad to be back though, that’s for sure.” Nicko said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I think Spike would like some help in the kitchen. Dinner’s almost ready, he just needs to prepare the dishes.”

Nicko nodded. “In that case, I’ll go help him right now.”

The rest of the night, the four of them enjoyed the dish that Spike had prepared for everyone. A creamy tomato soup with a fresh salad to go with it along with a loaf of bread from Sugarcube Corner. While they ate, Nicko told the others about his trip to Bryce’s world and also explained to Faith about being able to travel to other dimensions since they were Displaced. He then went on to retell how he and Eris met Ryu, the Elder Dragon. This served as quite entertaining for Spike since he never got the chance to meet any other dragons since the Great Dragon Migration so long ago.

After Dinner, Faith then asked Nicko a question that he honestly never expected to hear from her. “Hey, Uncle Nicko. Can I come along with you next time?”

The question personally caught him off guard, but the Rune Slayer smiled and nodded his head. “Sure thing Faith. The more, the merrier! But only after we meet the rest of Spikes friends tomorrow.” The young girl squealed with delight as she hugged her Uncle before returning to her room. Yuri looked at Nicko as she raised an eyebrow.

“Are you serious when you mean that?”

“Yes I am, Yuri. I don’t know much about being with children like you have, but I want her to be able to have memories of our time together before we go back to earth. It’s the least I can do.” Yuri sighed a little. She wasn’t going to object to that after he explained it.

“Okay, just make sure to be careful alright. Curiosity can get her in serious trouble if you don’t keep an eye on her.”

“I will.”

“Oh, that reminds me. I have something for you.” Yuri told him as she made her way to the nearby fridge. She got out a mug for him and handed it to him. “You’re technically of legal age to drink alcohol, so why not have your first drink tonight? I think it’s worth it given the circumstances today.”

Nicko smiled. “Well, this is unexpected. Thank you.” He told the fox maiden as he picked up the mug. “How about a toast? To Faith?”

Yuri smiled, lifting up a glad with a little bit of cider in it for herself. “To Faith.”

Next Morning…

After last night, Nicko had decided to retire for the night early so he did not do anything he would regret if he was under the influence. It was helpful because the next morning, he was up bright and early to make sure and prepare himself for meeting with the girls again. This included a few different things; like a shower, brushing his teeth, hair and all the other essentials that he needed to do in the morning. Who knew that a lot of dust and dirt could accumulate on him after crash landing in the Canterlot Garden?

Anyways, as he had the bottom half of his clothes on and was beginning to wash up his face, Yuri accidently made the mistake of barging in while Nicko was still shirtless. The reason? Well, lets just say that her stomach couldn’t handle all the cider that she had the other night and it made her sick. The warrior was glad to leave the room before the Fox Maiden slammed the door in his face. But, just as the situation was beginning to settle down and he was beginning to put on his turtleneck, a tired Faith came into the room. She was rubbing her eyes, likely because she had woken up just recently. Despite that, she was already dressed in the same regalia the Code: Nemesis would normally wear.

“Morning, Uncle Nicko. Have you seen Yuri?”

“She’s…… busy.”

“Busy? With wha-?”

Before Nicko could even speak, the two of them heard a loud series of coughs followed by the notion of what happens when you get motion sickness. “Cleaning up after herself.”

“O…… kay, I’ll just be waiting out here with Spike.”

“I’ll join you.”

After about almost twenty minutes, Yuri was finally back to her normal self. Eris had also re-emerged from Nicko, being fully rested after yesterday. The Sakra Devanam told them that they were going to meet everyone before breakfast because Pinkie would want to use the chance to make a special meal for their return once she finds out.

“Alright, you two just wait back here. Eris, prepare a way to surprise your father. I’ll call you when it’s time.”

While the two of them waited and made themselves comfortable, both Nocte’s could hear Yuri talking to the ponies in the great hall. From the sounds of it, everypony made it. The Mane Six, The Royal Siblings, The Cutie Mark Crusaders and even Discord himself arrived along with Chaotic.

“Welcome back everypony. How was your trip to Canterlot?”

“Delightful if I do say so myself,” Rarity spoke. She looked like she was wearing a designer coat and pants to prepare herself for the cold weather. “How were you and Spike while we were gone?”

“Well, we had quite a day yesterday. In fact, we had some surprise visitors.”

“OOOOHHH!!! I LOVE SURPRISES!!! ESPECIALLY SURPRISE PARTIES!!” Pinkie exclaimed as she was bouncing up and down out of pure joy.

“Well, I’m intrigued. Who were these visitors?” Discord himself now asked. But what came next was something the Draconequus, nor everypony in the room did not expect at all. Behind him, he felt a tap on the shoulder as he turned around. His eyes widened at who he saw next.

“Miss me, Daddy?”

The Spirit of chaos was beyond shocked as the sight of his daughter caused him to tear up, hugging her tightly. To him, this was a Hearts warming wish that had just come true.

“Oh dear chaos…… You have no idea how long I’ve waited to see you again!”

“You can thank Chaotic for that. He and his new friend were the ones that found us.”

Celestia looked at her son with a surprised look on her face, shocked at how the youngster was able to undertake such a journey and pull off something that seemed…… Impossible. But then, she noticed something. Something within Eris’ choice of words. “Hold on a minute… We?”

“That’s our cue.” Nicko whispered to Faith from their position in the throne room as they walked out into the great hallway. Everypony’s attention was directed towards them, most of them with their eyes widening.

“Faith!? What are you doing here?” came Scootaloo’s question. “And who’s the dude right next to you-?”

Instead of responding, Faith let her Uncle have the chance to speak. “Well now, it’s good to see all of you aga-AHH!!”

Seconds after speaking, Nicko got tackled head on by a hyperactive Pinkie Pie, who was super excited to see him again. Faith herself was caught off at the same time by the flying pink party pony blitz that slammed into her uncle’s midsection like an oncoming soccerball at her school’s playground.

“P-pinkie. I don’t think I intended to start my reunion with a concussion.”

Despite this though, Nicko’s words weren’t heard over the sounds of the Earth Pony’s constant chatter. “Oh my gosh!! Oh my gosh!! Oh my gosh!!!!! YOU'RE BACK!!! Well, I knew you would be coming back!! You did Pinkie Promise that! Even though Rainbow and Amy doubted that-!”

“HEY, I’m right here!!”

“-And Molly thought it would be theoretically impossible that, you managed to beat the odds!!! You know what this calls for?! A pa-.”

“Are you okay, Uncle?”

Those four words by Faith caught the attention of everypony that was standing in the room. Especially Applejack’s. “Whoa, Nelly!! Did ah hear her just call you “Uncle”?

“To quote your brother on this one AJ, “Eeyup”.”

“How though?”

The single question from Twilight came the moment that Nicko was able to get back up on his feet and brush the dust off of his clothes. It felt like the eyes of everypony on Equis were now on him because of the amount of anxiety in his head. Stretching the muscles in his hands as a calming mechanism, the Rune Slayer was finally able to speak.

“This here, is Faith. She and Chaotic found me yesterday. But as it turns out, after talking to her, her full name is Faith Nocte. She’s Anson’s daughter and therefore; my niece.”

Nopony could hold in their shock. But when it came to Pinkie Pie, she wasn’t able to contain her excitement. “You're Ansy Pants’ little girl!?! Oh my gosh, THIS IS SO EXCITING!”

“Wait… you know my dad?”

“Why of course!! He was my super duper number one baking assistant!!! I even taught him how to make Pancakes with Cake batter!”

“Oh my gosh. You taught him that!? Those are my favorite!!!!”

“Come with me, Faithy!! We shall prepare a grand pancake feast for everypony this morning!!” With that, the two of them scurried over to the kitchen, leaving Yuri and Nicko having to explain that occurred yesterday as well as the current circumstances involving trying to get back home. To Nicko’s surprise, Twilight was willing to help come up with a way to help the two of them once Molly and the others got back from their Vacation in Hayzil.

Hayzil

“Okay, I don’t know what’s funnier. The fact that the Celestial Court is trying to help us right now or the fact that they haven’t seen what I did to the statue of Big C!!”

Outside, a banner stood across the statue of Princess Celestia looking over Hazil. The caption on it saying… “420YOLOSWAGCHAOSFORLIFE”

“AMY!!!!”

Back at the Castle, Faith and Pinkie had become an unstoppable pancake making machine. To the baker ponies surprise, the young code queen was able to get more done since she was able to use her Nasod Spears as spatulas to cook more pancakes at once. By the time Nicko went to check on them, a tower of flapjacks almost reached the roof of the castle, leaving his jaw to drop by the sheer shock of how quick they were cooking them.

‘Now I know what mom felt like when she saw Anson working with Pinkie.’

After the pancakes were made, everypony began to dig in at the thanksgiving like table that made the place look like a Vegas Buffet with Syrup and Butter every three plates. Despite the enjoyment in all of this though, there was one thing that was to be dreaded afterwards. Doing the dishes. However, Spike and Yuri offered to help them out and take care of them while everypony returned back home. As for Nicko and Faith, they were in Nicko’s quarters with an eager Twilight Sparkle.

Earlier, at the mentioning of Nicko’s travels yesterday, the Princess of Friendship wanted to watch them as they prepared for their next journey into the many possible dimensions that the Multiverse had to offer.

“Okay Faith, these are the current tokens that Yuri had saved in here. Since you’ll be coming with me, I’ll let you pick which one we’ll use.” Faith studied each one of the emblems in the box, seeing what her choices were. But one of them soon caught her attention. It was an orb. A black one that felt warm to the touch.

“How about this one?” She asked, picking it up and handing it to Nicko, who began to inspect it. He did feel the magic inside the artifact and the orb reminded him of a black onyx jewel. He smiled as he looked at his niece.

“I think you made a good choice, Faith.” The Rune Slayer complimented her. Soon, he began to channel the required amount of power needed to create the gateway. Unlike Bryce’s gate, this one was of a Fiery orange and red. Chaotic and Eris soon entered the minds of their human friends as they went through it and the portal closed.

But as Twilight left the room, the Alicorn thought that she heard the roar of a dragon echo through the chamber as she closed the door.

End Log 3

Log 4- Dragon Rider

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Dragon Rider

(Unknown world-Outlands of Equestria)

The sky was calm the land was calm however a massive wind was soon picked up flying across the plains of Equestria. A huge shadow of a massive being moved. Over the trees and mountains the massive entity flew over before landing on a small mountain. The being was huge his massive body was covered in metal with huge strong wings a titanic body and glowing lines as that of magma flowed under his from. The massive creature was a dragon the biggest dragon ever. Giving a massive roar the ground trembled the sky roared and the water nearby ripped under the power of a literal force of nature. With a powerful beat of his wings he took off.

As the titan of a dragon flew through the world, he felt something. He flew sensing this change and came landing on the ground. This was a calm field however you would expect a beast of this size not to see the tiny thing laying on the ground near by. However he saw the creature. It seemed to be asleep or out of consciousness.

The massive being looked down. “Hello?” Its voice was almost an echo.

Its voice woke up the little thing. Looking around it saw that it was in a shadow a massive shadow. Turning to the shadow it looked up. The dragon decided to break the silence. “Hello there.”

*Nicko’s Perspective*

Moments after arriving in this unknown world, Nicko was jolted awake by the sound of a loud roar that made the ground shake underneath him. His vision wasn’t exactly up to par during the first few minutes that he was up, but in his head, he heard a voice that was almost like an echo and not the voice of Eris.

“Hello?”

The single word caused the Rune Slayer to rise to his feet, confused by who said that. Upon looking around, he noticed a huge shadow lingering behind him. Slowly, he turned around, looking up at the behemoth of a dragon that had formed that same shadow. It was almost a mountain many times bigger than the human and had metal cover his bottom jaw and body.

“Hello there.” It boomed again.

“Holy crap!!” The young Rune Slayer cursed.

The dragon blinked at this and realized appearing as a walking mountain wasn’t the best idea. In a flash of light he shrunk down to a more smaller size. “Is this better?” He asked his voice still echoing.

“Sort of… Who are you though?” Nicko asked. The Dragon never really had the opportunity to introduce himself, nor say his name to the traveler. But for some reason, the Dragon reminded him of his teacher Ryu, the Elder Dragon.

“I am Neltharion the Earth-Wander, however you may call me Deathwing.” The dragon said. He noticed something in the kids hands. “The dragon soul?” He asked.

The orb glowed and repeated a message.

I am Deathwing. Call on me and the very world itself is no longer safe for your enemies. Let my voice be heard on your world! Know this there are I will not cross! Let us hope we can be allies.

The dragon looked it over. “I remember something like this happening the event was mostly drowned out with me regaining a memory.”

“A memory?” The Rune Slayer asked. “What kind of memory?”

The dragon looked up as there was nothing to do. The limited memories he had flooded him. “A memory of another form and a memory of me floating in a void with only rocks as they came to me its was eons ago but nothing more I could remember I do think I had a hand in creating this world.” With his claw raised the ground shock as it opened up and the wind blow behind him water flowed into the pulls he made. “I am both apart and am the very world itself. The Sun, Moon, Chaos, Love and Harmony have their avatars, their embodiments I am the very world itself.”

“Wow… That’s a lot to take in.” Nicko said to himself. Turning around, he noticed something was off as his eyes widened. “Oh crap. Faith!!”

The dragon himself was a little puzzled by what the boy referred to as Faith, but could tell that he was a little distressed. Soon though, before Neltharion could ask anything, Nicko asked him a question. “Did you happen to see a white haired girl, twelve years old, and had a jewel on her forehead?”

Neltharion shook his head. “I don’t believe I did. I was on my way to the badlands to see what had changed after my awakening. I only found you because my senses picked you up.” The dragon said.

“Crap. I need to find her. She’s my niece and came here with me.” The Rune Slayer told the earth-wander. “It’s her first time traveling to other worlds and now, she’s lost. Dammit! Some uncle I am!!”

Neltharion closed his eyes and stopped his claw on the ground hard. Unknown to the Rune Slayer a shock wave was sent out and traveled the whole continent. The dragon was looking for a being just like him. With his eyes closed he could see the outlines in the shock wave and saw many things. His shock wave finally came to the badlands. He saw a outline of a girl unconscious in the badlands. With the shock wave gone he opened his eyes. “I know where she is.” This confused the Rune Slayer to a massive degree he had his eyes closed for a few minutes what was he doing. “Before you ask I can see with the world call it a seismic sense. I sent a shock wave looking for a outline of a being like you and saw one with my shock waves… well its more of feel.” The dragon looked south. “She is in the badlands and its days away by foot.”

Neltharion turned to him. “However by air I can be there in less than a hour.” The dragon looked him over again. “My full size would be to much for you to stay on so there only one option” He lowered himself down. “Climb on I will ask the wind to aid us in our flight.”

The Rune Slayer did as the dragon instructed, climbing onto him. “T-thank you. I’m really grateful for this.” All Neltharion did was nod his head as he used his powerful wings to shoot himself into the air and take off.

The flight was fast as the ground below them gave way to towns a few villages and random roads until they came across the mountains of the badlands when they passed by the badlands came into view. It wasn’t an endless desert of rock. No, there appeared to be rivers with planets growing out and ancient water beds filled is water once again. “This is a perfect example of what my awakening had done to the world. Before I awoke, this land where few could live was a wasteland. Now, water has returned to the land and soon life I believe the Changelings who live here are vying with Chrysalis for her new lands orios I was coming to hopefully broker a peace agreement with the hives and maybe Equestria but I did not see this happening.” He saw a huge army of Changelings preparing for an invasion at the outside of the badlands. “Your niece is on the way to Chrysalis hive let us hope no scouts found her.” Neltharion went for the canyon and landed right at its opening. There was Faith inside the canyon.

Once they landed, Nicko jumped off of Neltharion and rushed to her side. The impact of the dragon touching the ground woke the young girl as the first thing she laid eyes on was her relieved Uncle. “U-uncle? Where are we?”

“In the Badlands. This is another Equestria, but we need to go.”

“Why? This place looks so-.” At that moment, she turned to see Neltharion in all his proud glory. “...peaceful.”

“Faith, this is Neltharion. Neltharion, this is my Niece. Faith Nocte. I am Nicko Nocte.”

Faith herself, finding the pronunciation with Deathwing’s name, then asked a question. “Um… do you mind if I call you Nel for short?”

“Its ok. Though my nickname, if you will, is Deathwing if that sounds better.” The dragon said. The name Deathwing didn’t sound very nice that the dragon knew. However before they could get any further, Neltharion looked up. “Its started.”

“What’s started?” Faith asked in confusion as she got up on both of her feet.

The dragon looked down at them both. “The changeling hives are about to fight one another I can not let Chrysalis hive fall.” The dragon said. He closed his eyes. “Discord informed me a bit before of the changelings. If Chrysalis sister wins, this Equestria will have a full on war.” He finished. The ground shook as a massive roar was heard. When they looked up they saw Changelings of massive sizes. Each one could break a hydra over its hands. The Changeling Titans.

“Dear Artemis, that’s a huge army.” Nicko swore as he looked at Deathwing. “I’m guessing we need to stop this civil war?”

A flash later and Discord appeared on Neltharion head. “Deathwing, what's taking so long?” He asked looking at him. “The wendigo are on the move again. Have you stopped the hives? Tell me Pupa taken care of?” The chaos entity asked.

“Pupa?” Faith asked. This caught the Spirit’s attention as he looked at the young code queen. “Deathwing, you didn’t tell me that you had some friends with you…”

“This is Discord, the avatar of Chaos. He sent me on this little mission he been trying to keep the wendigo at bay in the north.” Deathwing said.

The chaos entity jumped down. “Well, you did kinda set them free when you and Rainbow dash flew up north.” Discord said.

“Trust me, Neltharion. Back where were from, we’ve met the family.”

“Family?” Discord asked. “I have no family.” Discord finished.

Nicko sighed. “Not where were from. Eris, Chaotic, How about you come say hello?” Before Discord could even ask, both Chaos spirits emerged from the minds of Faith and Nicko. Eris herself almost resembled Discord, but was a female and had a grey mane. As for Chaotic, he was what some would call a cross breed. His Father was Discord and his mother was none other than Princess Celestia. Chaotic was two years younger in age than Faith while Eris and Nicko were both around 25.

“That might have been why I sensed you.” Deathwing said. However, Discord turned to him.

“This is not the time.” He said. Deathwing nodded. In a flash he was covered in magic and the Dragon form changed once again. Now stood a hulking man with skin of stone and cracks that pulsed with magic that looked like Magma. A mouth guard covered his face and stones emerged from his back as he carried a two handed weapon with him.

“Do you need any help?” Eris asked Neltharion as she stood by Nicko and her little brother.

Discord turned to the other spirits. “Me and the princesses are trying to keep the Wendigo king asleep we can’t have him awaken otherwise all the hate he’ll freeze the world.” Discord said.

“So what should we do?” Nicko asked. He wasn’t one for having to sit on the sidelines and wait patiently to do something. “You make the call, Neltharion. What can we do to help?”

“Do any of you have experience dealing with an army of changelings?” The dragon in human form asked. “Or are changelings just bugs where you're from?”

“Anthropomorphic ones, but you get the idea. We’ve dealt with them before and a queen that was really… disturbing.” Eris said. Soon, Nicko was the one to speak again. “Faith and I should split up. Chaotic can be with her and Eris could be with me. They know telepathy so they could contact you or Discord if anything goes wrong.”

“Ok then. Faith, goes with Discord. You come with me.” He said. Discord nodded with a snap they were gone. Appearing inside the caverns of the Wendigo frozen castle, they saw the four Princesses in a magic square with the wendigo king in the middle of the crystal that was where he was resting.

Meanwhile, Nicko and Neltharion were getting ready to face the onslaught. However right as they stood another army came from behind. It was Chrysalis and her allied hives. “Stop!” Neltharion yielded.

Chrysalis Jumped down. “You’re who Discord sent? Its too late. My Sisters wouldn’t be reasoned with she made it very clear.” Neltharion sighed. “Yes but you can’t fight her your hate for each other we’ll wake the wendigo king up and I can’t have that happen.”

Chrysalis blinked at this. “Then how are you going to stop her?” Deathwing gave a smile. “Either with diplomacy or something else.” Deathwing maul flew from his hands. He had… well… no combat training with it. “Sorry I’m a bit rusty.”

Nicko sighed as he drew his sword. “Need me to pitch in?”

Chrysalis looked at the human, a little amused by his bravery. “And just who is this… little thing?” The comment about his height made the Rune Slayer’s ears twitch and really irritated him. Turning towards the Changeling Queen, Nicko shot back a response that she honestly did not expect to hear.”

“I am NOT a thing!! My name is Nicko Nocte! YOU WILL FEAR MY LASER FACE!”

However, before they could do anything they regret they were held in place by the earth. “Can you both not fight with an army behind us?” He asked. As he retrieved his maul he turned and saw the Changeling army with Pupa leading them.

“Well sister, dearest came to surrender? My, who is this?” Her voice was alluring as if she had perfected it. Sadly, Deathwing didn’t have time for this.

“I am Neltharion. I come asking for hostilities to cease between you both before you release something far more dangerous to the balance of the world.” He said to her.

“Hello?” Chrysalis asked. With a stomp the rocks returned letting them both go free.

“Oh really now?” Pupa said. “And I’m suppose to believe the vague threats of you, my sister and a red haired runt?”

‘Oh no.’ Eris said mentally to Neltharion. ‘This could be bad.’

“How its not like…. he going to do something drastic isn’t he?” Deathwing asked. He then face palmed. How he even know how to do this was anyones guess. “He going to do something that will end up hurting him and me right?”

‘This happens anytime he is referred to by his height-.’

Before Eris could finish speaking, Nicko was walking outward, sword drawn. “Do you really want me to kick your ass? Cause I can make that happen right now if you want.”

“Is that a threat?” Pupa asked.

“No, it’s a challenge. We’ll settle it with a duel. I win, you and your battalion can pack up your stuff and high tail it back to where you came from. You win… well, we’ll see once we get to that point.”

Pupa had a smile. Eris felt something off about Pupa. A shadowy voice speaking to her. It was unnatural ancient and powerful. “Perhaps, but heres the thing…. no chaos spirits, no divine intervention, pass this point.” Eris realized something was a trap. A huge trap.

‘Nicko. Please be careful.’ Eris told him as he fixed up his arms. The female chaos spirit left, standing beside Discord now as Nicko took off his long red coat, showing his sleeveless undershirt that had a turtleneck collar. He gripped his weapon tightly as he looked at Pupa.

“Ladies first.”

Pupa smile before casting a spell on herself. An aura of dread formed around her. With a blast she sent out a dozen green fireballs. Before disappeared and appeared behind him to do it again.

“Pfft. Nice try.” Nicko said, activating his Storm Blade skill, which caused a cone of mystical blades to swirl around in a circular motion and turn all of Pupa’s fireballs to ashes. Next, he detonated two runes on the soles of his feet to swiftly charge straight at the Sister of Chrysalis, getting behind her as he struck her near her back hooves where her hamstring would be.

However, unknown to him, Pupa had a smile. Nicko suddenly felt pain rushing right though his body. He tried to cast a spell or rune and the pain burned him. “Like it? Its a bit of ancient magic the more magic you use, mana, whatever... the more it burns your body. And here’s the really sadistic part… I have to undo the spell on me to get rid of it. Any attempt by you and well.” A image of a skeleton on fire formed.

Deathwing glared at her. “Why do I feel I know that breed of magic somewhere?” He asked himself.

However, To Pupa’s surprise, Nicko was not flinching in pain. In fact, he was grinning. “You are a real idiot. I use Mana, yes. But… what you don’t know is what you caused.” Now, a blood red Aura glowed around Nicko as he put his sword on his shoulder. “Let me remind you something. Burning me doesn’t help you any. Why?”

A finger snap later and his hand was enchanted full of fire. “I AM FIRE!!!” Ignoring the pain, Nicko made his move while Pupa was standing still. The Changeling thought that the boy was going to attack head on, only to be shocked when he leaped back and dropped a series of rocks at her feet. With a finger snap, Runes that were inscribed on the stones began to glow violently and soon detonated, hurting her and sending broken pieces of stone as shrapnel.

Pupa laughed. She underestimated him. Maybe she should stop playing around? “Perhaps I should just break my seal? No that would be to fast.” With a smile, the ground below her formed a dark circle and the changelings near her died into green energy which healed her back to full. The magic was, well for those who feel magic, was like death.

Her eyes glow as Nicko felt pain once again. Energy leaved him as she decided to eat part of his mana for a temporary boost. ‘Mana drain? I know that spell.’ Deathwing was getting a horrible vib. “Nicko, finish this fast. Kill her!” Deathwing commented.

Nicko, hearing the Dragon, now knew that he had to go past his limits. A surge of magic flew into the air as he casted Phoenix Talon, A skill that enhances his powers for a good thirty seconds. Which, of course, was all he needed. Charging forth, the Rune Slayer used Wind Blade to strike Pupa near her heart as the Rune Slayer broke her guard. The attacks that followed scarred the changeling and any counterattacks from her caused the red aura around Nicko to pulse, making her stagger. Lastly, to finish the job, The Rune Slayer casted a Sphere into the air which grew by the minute. A black hole soon formed as it picked up Pupa and encased her in a Runic Prison.

“SHINING RUNE BUSTER!!”

A series of Mystical Swords soon enclosed on the Changeling, wrecking her and tearing her apart as the spell soon concluded. What was left looked like a lifeless body.

Deathwing gave a sigh however the titans and army moved to attack them. “Really?” He asked himself. With a magic burst, he transformed back to his dragon form. He towered over them. “Leave now!” He commanded. No one noticed the body disappeared however it didn’t matter.

With a deep sigh the wendigo king fell asleep again.

Discord returned with Faith to find Nicko looking over with Deathwing as the Changeling bowed before Chrysalis. Deathwing held a dragon soul in his hands. “So thats how it works?” He asked looking at the token. He gave kinda a laugh. “So basically they’re how many others?”

“Can you elaborate on others?” Nicko asked. “Do you mean Displaced?”

“Yes, is that what they are called?” He paused for a moment. “So let me get this straight I’m a human who went to a convention and became Deathwing?” He asked. However before they could go any further, Deathwing realized something. Nicko’s reality was a few years ahead of his own. “I have something to warn you about.”

The dragon raised his claws and a perfect map of Equestria formed. Unknown to them, this was a replica of another map. A magical light floated off to a place near the boards. “Here is where a threat to all of Equestria…. No, the world was beginning in my world if you say is true about other worlds, then this is a threat none can ignore.”

“There is a unicorn who has found a way to remove cutie marks, stripping you of part of your individuality. If Luna and Celestia were to lose their marks, it would be deadly. We learned of it just a few days ago. Yours has had years”

“What is the Unicorn’s name?” Faith asked. Saying a unicorn could basically mean anypony. But saying a name could help them find this individual that the dragon was referring to. “Do you know what she looks like?”

“Her name is Starlight Glimmer. Her mane has two colors and she has light violet fur.” He ripped the world up to form a basic sculpture of her. “The last thing her cutie mark is painted on simply splash her in water and it will fall off. But be sure to smash her vault and get back the marks.”

“Thanks for the tips.” Nicko said, pulling out a Rune Slayer’s mark and setting it down by the dragon. “Keep this. It’s my summoning token. Use it when you are in trouble and require my services.”

“Take mine too.” Faith said, holding a small pendant with a spear like blade at the end. “Just in case you need both of us.”

As the dragon touched the items, he could hear the saying of both Uncle and Niece course through his head. Nicko’s voice first, then Faith’s.

I am Nicko. The Rune Slayer with a kind heart. The power that's in my grasp and that you control will become the power that the darkness will fear. May there be light on the roads that you travel.

Have Faith in yourself as I do on my journey. Call upon me; The kind queen of the Nasods, and I will support you and become a Nemesis to those that want to hurt the innocent.

Deathwing nodded before handing them both two new Dragon Souls. “As you have given me gifts, I give you each a new Dragon Soul.” His chant could be heard one more time as the pull of dimensions could be felt.

I am Deathwing. Call on me and the very world itself is no longer safe for your enemies. Let my voice be heard on your world! Know this there are I will not cross! Let us hope we can be allies.

“I thank you for your generosity, Neltharion. I wish you safe travels on your journey.” Nicko said as he used his own Token to create the gateway to return home. Faith herself, was waving goodbye to not only the dragon, but also the princesses that had just arrived only a few moments ago.

“Goodbye, Nelly!! I hope I can see you again in the future!!!”

With that, both humans entered through the cerulean gateway as it closed. Neltharion himself, smiled. But soon, Discord was by his head, pondering something.

“So… Nelly… What’s next?”

Deathwing rolled his eyes. “The wendigo King is fast asleep, but I fear that something else lurks. But I know one thing.” With a flash he was back to his titanic size. “Whatever it is we will be ready!” With that the Dragon, the princesses, and the avatar of Chaos took off for Equestria.

Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s world)

Nicko and Faith had finally returned back to their quarters in Twilight’s Castle after quite some time away. Both of them felt calm and relaxed, but Neltharion’s warning kept ringing inside the Rune Slayer’s head. So, getting on top of it, he went to go see the princess. Faith herself, decided to go find the Cutie Mark Crusaders so she could play in the snow.

The Rune Slayer soon found Twilight in her personal study about a few minutes after looking around her entire castle. The Alicorn noticed him moments after hearing the teen knock on the door. “Oh hello, Nicko. How was your trip with Faith?”

“Pretty good. But I had a question to ask you.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“Well, the guy I met, his name was Neltharion. He warned me of a Unicorn that was able to steal Cutie Marks with her magic-.”

“Oh you mean Starlight Glimmer. We already took care of that.”

Nicko blinked a little upon hearing that. “When?”

“A couple of days after the Tirek incident, the girls and I went to her village along with Amy, Jane, Yuri and Molly…… Let’s just say what happened there, stays there.”

Flashback

“Hello there, You must be Twilight Sparkle and her friends. And-. Oh my… who are you exactly?”

Amy shrugged, looking around the room. “Honestly, I’m just here to raid your fridge.”

“O…… kay. Diamond, the food stampers are here!”

“Tell them I have a gun because I PAY TAXES!!!”

“And how does that relate to Starlight Glimmer?”

“Word to the wise, never piss off Yuri.”

“ … What did she do?”

“She dropped the town’s water supply on top of Starlight Glimmer’s head once she heard of how she was deceiving the town. That’s why they call her “The Smiling Savior” now everytime she goes there.”

Before Nicko could even respond to that, the two of them heard a few voices outside the door. Some of the guards that were on duty were also confused by what was going on.

“What? What do you mean you don’t have that? You know what, screw it. Just take my phone and hit random.”

“Oh boy…”

“What’s going on?” Nicko asked. Before he even got an answer, he heard the same voice again.

“One……… Two………”

The door to the main hall of the castle slammed wide open. Standing at the Entrance was Amy, her younger sister Molly and their resurrected mother; Jane. From Amy’s phone, lyrics of a profane, yet popular song were blaring through the hallway as they made their way inside. Nicko’s only response was for him to facepalm himself.

“Okay, turn it off. Turn it off… It did not work…… it did not work.”

“Following your example, I see?” Twilight asked sarcastically. “Before I forget you said something about Neltharion. who is that?”

“Remind me later.” Nicko whispered.

“Heh… Kinky.” Soon though, Amy’s attention was elsewhere as she saw Nicko standing right next to Twilight. The Crimson Avenger honestly did not even realize that a good friend was back until she laid eyes on him. “Oh sh*t, is that who I think it is? I gotta go say hi!”

“Excuse me ma’am, but we can’t let you go past here-.”

“OUTTA MY WAY!!!” Amy responded with pushing the guards so hard, it felt like the muscles in their bodies were getting torn apart. Molly herself stepped over the fallen guards while Jane strode past them as they woke up the stairs.

“Hello girls.” Nicko replied. He received a hug from Jane, a pat on the back from Molly, and a fist in the face from Amy.

“Oww. What the hell was that for?”

“That was for making me lose my bet with Pinkie Pie.”

“Wait…… Bet?” The Rune Slayer asked in confusion as he got back up off the floor. Molly herself sighed along with her mother as they looked at Amy. “Well, Amy and Rainbow were betting with Pinkie to see how long you would be stuck in stone before you became free. They thought twenty years while Pinkie thought seven years.”

“Yeah and that made me lose three million bits!!”

“Geez… so much for confidence.”

“So how did you get out?” Came the question from Jane. Soon, They heard the sound of feet and hooves as the five of them saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, Faith, Button Mash, Rumble, and Babs Seed taking their snowball fight from the Castle grounds outside to the hallway.

“Hi Uncle Nicko, want to join us!?!” Faith asked before having Moby and Remy knock back a few snowballs like it was a game of tennis. The Rune Slayer facepalmed himself again as now the attention of the Andersons was now on him.

“Uncle… Nicko?”

“You heard that right. She’s my niece. Faith Nocte. Which means Anson is her father.”

“Wow… Talk about unexpected.”

“Coming from the queen of unexpected…” Nicko snickered back at Amy shortly after making that comment. He ignored the lines that followed from Amy and just focused on his Niece and how she was enjoying herself. In his head, the lines of a song came into play as he decided to join her.

This is my December, this is my time of the year

This is my December, this is all so clear

This is my December, this is my snow covered home

This is my December, this is me alone

Later in the day, Faith was with her uncle. Alone, in her quarters. She wanted him to come see her for a moment as she looked back at Nicko. “Did you have fun today?”

“Y-yeah… But…”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Nicko asked, upon noticing her say “but” in the previous sentence.

“I…… I miss daddy.”

Nicko soon got down on her level as he patted her on the back. “I know you do, honey. I miss him too. I’ll make sure that we will get home soon. I promise.”

Faith now had her arms around her Uncle as she embraced him in a warm and tight hug and Nicko did the same thing. “I love you, Uncle Nicko.”

“I love you too, My little Faithy.”

End Log 4

Log 5- Whispers in the Dark

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Of Magic and Machines- Whispers in the Dark

Ever since she got back from being in Deathwing’s equestria, Faith was really bored. Nicko was with Molly and Twilight, trying to figure out what was needed in order for them to return home. But there wasn’t really much to do. She considered looking through the “Tokens” Box that was in her Uncle’s room to try and go somewhere and find a place to visit. But, she was worried that somepony would notice her disappearance. Still, what was the real harm in looking anyway? It might give her the chance to see what was available next time Uncle Nicko and her were on a trip.

Faith silently entered the room and went on over to where the small chest was. but something seemed… off. She noticed that the bottom of the box was uneven and flipped the box over. To her surprise, she found something very surprising. What she found was a book. A book with a mark on the front. When she went to open it, the pages were completely blank.

“Hey there, Faith.”

The young girl turned towards the door, seeing her Uncle smiling as he walked into the room. “Whatcha got there?”

“I-i found this under the box where all the Tokens were.” She replied, letting Nicko have a look at it. The Rune Slayer himself was quite curious as to what it was, finding it odd that the book had a completely blank slate of pages. “What do you think it’s for?”

“Hmm…… maybe it’s a journal.”

“A journal?”

“Yeah,” The Rune Slayer replied, taking out the one that he had that contained Starswirl the Bearded’s notes on Runic Magic. “I use the leftover pages in mine to take notes and write a daily log. Why don’t you use it as a way to record your thoughts and what not?”

“You mean…… like a diary?” Faith asked. She remembered the old one that she kept in her room. But it’s not like she could just go back and grab it.

“Whatever floats your boat.” Her Uncle said. “Here, let me get you something to write with.” A few moments later, Eris had a clickable black gel ink pen form in the Rune Slayer’s hand and to give to Faith. With that, the Code Nemesis was now free to write anything she could think of for her first journal entry. What would be a good way to start?

She thought of it like if she was writing a story. You need a beginning, a middle, and an end. Now with this inside her head, Faith began to write.

My name is Faith Nocte. To understand my current situation, you must believe in the impossible. You got that? Good, because what I’m about to tell you is something that sounds like it came out of a work of fiction. When I was a little girl, I was told of a story of two heroes. Two Brothers. One could harness Runic Magic and was known as The “Rune Slayer” while the other was able to conjure forth swords at will and gained the title of The “Infinity Sword”. One of them, The Rune Slayer; had himself imprisoned in stone in order to save the Infinity Sword when they faced a great evil long ago.

Now get this. The Infinity Sword… That’s my dad. I find this out after getting thrown into the same world that I previously thought was a dream, meeting a few new friends along the way and freeing the brother that was in stone; who turns out to be my Uncle. Now, my Uncle Nicko and I are trying to find a way home within the next seven days (It was originally eight if you counted yesterday). Luckily, I have a few tricks when it comes to fighting and some new skills. But it’s something I’m not totally familiar with. I hope I can be able to figure out how to understand these new abilities and be in complete control of them

-The Code Nemesis, Faith.

The Code Queen finished her entry and closed the book, taking it to her quarters and setting it down on what she would consider as a desk or a work table. She took a moment to look outside, watching as the snow fell down fast and hard in a blinding blizzard. In these conditions, everypony might be indoors. But, that thought was soon demolished when she heard Moby speak to her.

“Faith, I’m detecting signs of life outside of town.”

Cocking an eyebrow, the girl replied with a question. “What kind of signs? Are they animals?”

“No, most animals would be in hibernation right now. These signs were reading are… different.”

“How different?”

“They’re… equine.”

That sent chills down Faith’s spine. Two ponies out in this weather? They would most likely freeze to death!! She had to hurry. “Moby. Remy. Guide me. We need to get them to safety and out of this weather.”

“Yes, Ms. Faith.” The Two Drones replied as they took form and Faith ran out the front entrance of the castle. Following the directions the two machines were giving her, the Code Nemesis was moving as fast as she can, hoping that she wasn’t too late. Moving gracefully through the snow was one thing. But seeing through it was another. Fortunately, Moby and Remy were functioning right now like a turn by turn GPS. They kept track of the location Faith was going towards and adjusted her path accordingly. Moments after starting, she reached forest that she was at earlier.

“They’re inside. You need to hurry. We’re picking up something else chasing them.”

“What is it?”

“Some kind of… Hybrid. But different…” A few feminine screams began to echo as soon as they finished speaking. “We should make haste and hurry.”

‘Thank you, captain obvious.’ Faith told herself as she made her way in.

“S-stay away!!”

The Code Queen could hear the cries of a young girl as she soon came to a clearing. That’s when she saw what was going on.

Four wolves completely made up of Frozen Ice were cornering a young earth pony that was carrying her friend. She had a small crown on her head and her friends looked like she had gotten a fever.

“S-somepony help me!!!”

That was Faith’s cue to put herself between the Wolves and the Two ponies. Moby and Remy assisted her, using the skill Atomic Shield to protect themselves and serve as a temporary barrier. Next, The Blades around her back came forth, causing the predators to back off.

“If you want them, you’re going to have to go through me.”

The Lupine figures growled as each one refocused their attention from the two ponies to her. The They came at all angles from her peripheral vision. But Faith had Moby and Remy. And they were her guides.

“Attack from your right.”

Faith obliged and did so. But due to the weather and the fact that she was wearing her Code Exotic garments, her movements were somewhat limited. This was seen at times where she was barely able to incoming attacks. Her blades were doing most of the work, but the problem was… she was being pushed into a corner.

The wolves saw it as a chance to wound their prey as their chilling claws sliced at Faith’s chest. She flinched in pain, but only for a moment as she tore the dress off, revealing her Code Nemesis attire and preparing to attack head on.

“You boys just made a BIG mistake.” Faith growled. Now despite being a girl, with having a warrior as a father, she knew how to defend herself. But that was against people. This time, it was against four overgrown Frostwolves who were hungry and looking for blood. Not quite the same as handling schoolyard bullies with name calling and pushing around. Still, Faith was going to give it everything she got.

And she was not going to let some Ice Dogs stop her from saving these two ponies.

“Faith, strike the ground!”

Following Remy’s command, the young girl did so and destroyed the first Frostwolf with a Spear Trap. The second one then lashed out with it’s teeth before biting down on a spear that struck the beast between the eyes. The last two wolves try to attack from both sides and cause an assault from two angles. But with her hands stretched out in both directions, she launched herself into the air and caused the wolves heads to collide into one another. Preparing her to use another skill.

“SPEAR BURST!!”

The Final strike not only exhausted Faith, but made her glad that the current struggle was over. Now, she could focus and attend to the two earth ponies that she had saved.

“W-who or what are you?” The pink one with the Tiara asked in a serious voice.

“Name’s Faith and I’m more concerned about your Friend. Is she okay?”

The silver maned mare coughed a little and groaned in her friends arms. “Silver’s not feeling well. She also hurt her leg when trying to run from those beasts just now.” That’s when the mare noticed the wounds on Faith’s chest. “Are you okay?”

“J-just a scratch.” Faith groaned a little as Moby and Remy scanned the pony the mare said was known as “Silver”. What they found out was a little scary.

“Faith, this is bad. She’s suffering from Hypothermia. If she’s out in the cold any longer, she might go into shock and die.”

This caused the light pink pony to tense up. She was scared and didn’t want to lose her best friend. Faith saw this and didn’t waste any time on trying to help. “Miss, What’s your name?”

“D-diamond Tiara.”

“Well Diamond, help me carry your friend. We’re going to get you two to safety.”

Castle of Friendship

Nicko and Molly had just finished up with their conversation with Twilight and were trying to catch each other up to speed on what the Rune Slayer had missed while in stone. “So, let me get this straight… Amy is now half pony?”

“I know, it’s a lot to explain and personally, I don’t even know how it happened.”

“Riiiiiiiight… I’ll believe it when I see it for myself.”

“Yeah. Hey, have you seen Faith?”

“Last time I checked, she was in her room resting a little-.”

The Rune Slayer’s comment was interrupted by the loud BANG!! of the door to the castle getting kicked in by Faith’s foot. She and Diamond hurried inside quickly while Nicko himself rushed to his Niece’s side. “What the-? What happened?!”

“These two were caught outside in the forest during the blizzard. Please help. She’s suffering from Hypothermia.”

Nicko hurried and placed his coat over Silver Spoon as Molly rushed to get a fire going in the living room fireplace as they set her down on a nearby couch. As that was finishing up, the Rune Slayer had noticed the gash on Faith’s chest. “Oh dear god, what happened to you!?”

“I…… got in a fight.”

Nicko himself cocked an eyebrow. “A fight? With who?”

“I think you mean what.” Diamond clarified. “While I was trying to find shelter, Silver and I got attacked by some wolves.”

“Wolves? As in Timberwolves?”

“That can’t be right,” Molly replied back, setting the first aid kit down on the table. “Timberwolves only come out during Zap apple season and that’s in Spring. I’m going to go check the encyclopedia and get back to you.”

As the Mastermind left the room, Nicko opened up the first aid kit and got out a few items. This included disinfectant, gauze pads, and bandages. Using a cloth pad, he poured a little bit of the disinfectant onto the pad and brought it close to Faith’s wounds. “Be still. This might sting a bit, but it’s only to make sure that the wound is cleaned.”

As he applied pressure, Faith flinched a little in pain. A common reacting to the stinging sensation of rubbing alcohol across an open wound. After a few moments though, the Rune Slayer was able to wrap the bandages around the deep cuts and make sure his niece was okay before asking her anything. “So, how did you know that these two were out in the snow?”

“Moby and Remy told me.”

“Who?”

“My two drones.” Faith replied, pointing at them as they were checking on Silver’s condition and also creeping out Diamond Tiara a little.

Nicko sighed a little in relief upon remembering what she meant. In Elsword, Eve’s weapon of choice was a pair of drones named Moby and Remy. Given the technological capabilities of the two machines, they must’ve picked up on the life energy of the two mares before Faith ran out the door.

“Alright, even though what you did was reckless, I’m still proud of you.” The Uncle told her. “You saved somepony’s life with your newfound abilities and for that, I’m happy.”

Soon, Molly came back with the encyclopedia. “Got it. Turns out, the creatures Faith encountered were called Winter Wolves. Ice like wolves that only coming out during the winter months. They mostly hunt on their own, but also hunt in packs.”

“That explains why there were four of them going after us.” Diamond said. “But why would they be going after ponies?”

“According to this, the way they survive is Survival of the Fittest. They hunt anything that could possibly feed the pack as a whole. Which means that if Faith weren’t there to save you, you two might’ve become Wolf Lunch.”

The earth pony gulped at that thought, badly picturing them getting devoured alive by the monsters they had just encountered. She then trotted back to Silver Spoon, who was still sleeping, but her condition was improving. Diamond was now beginning to feel very grateful for Faith’s actions. If she weren’t there, who knows what would become of them.

“So Faith, how are you doing?” Molly asked.

“Alright I guess… Just… painful.”

“I’ve been there before. Are you getting use to your new abilities?”

“I guess… I used some of them to help protect Diamond and Silver, but I still feel rusty.” Faith sighed a little as Moby and Remy reverted back to standby, becoming earrings once again. “Maybe when I feel better and the weather clears up, I can find a way to practice.” Hearing that made Nicko think about when Ryu, The Elder Dragon, taught him about Diversity and Mastery. Even though that helped him, Faith herself was a different case. The same teachings would not apply to someone of her skill level.

“Maybe. Right now, I think you need your rest. You’ve been through quite a lot and I think those wounds of yours need to heal first before you do anything reckless.”

Faith sighed and nodded her head. Her uncle made a very good point about her having to rest. So it would be best for her to actually take his advice than ignore it. But something came on her mind. “Hey Nicko? How did you get so strong? Did you have a teacher?”

Now, Molly herself was curious.

“You can say that.” Nicko sighed. “However, he taught me a different lesson. I already knew the skills I was capable of when I met him, but my teacher taught me the difference between mastering your abilities and being diverse with them.”

At this point, Nicko reached into his pocket and was thankful to see that it was still there. He took it out and took a minute to caress the object that he was holding. Around now was when Spike entered the room. He kind of already knew the present situation. But when he came in, the dragon was personally shocked to hear what came next from the Rune Slayer.

“My teacher’s name is Ryu. He’s a Displaced like myself, but he is special. Because where he is from, Ryu is known as an Elder Dragon. What I’m holding now is actually his token. He calls it a Dragon Tear if I remember correctly.”

“Wait wait wait…… You were taught… by a dragon?” Molly said. “That sounds crazy.”

“Not as crazy as you saying your sister is now a pony.” Nicko replied back.

“ …Touche.”

“Plus, I think there is a way for me to prove it to you.”

“Oh yeah? How?”

“Eris can take any memories I have and show them as small movie clips.” The Rune Slayer told her as Eris emerged from Nicko again. The Spirit of Chaos began to conjure a medium sized orb that almost looked like a crystal ball. It looked like a cloudy sky at first, but then, the clips began to play as Faith, Molly and Spike watched like they were seeing a movie at a movie theater.

“Nicko! Get over here. Since I don’t think we have a lot of time until our mutual friend finds a lead, we should get at least some training in.”

“Right.”

The clip continued on to show them starting off with introductions before getting to the two of them clashing at each other with swords. However, to Faith’s surprise, she saw her Uncle actually struggling to win. This went on for several minutes, but one thing actually surprised all three of them.

"If you haven’t noticed, both our fighting styles should be the same.”

That came as a complete surprise to Faith, but not to Molly. Despite both this “Ryu” and Nicko both using different swords and spells, their approach was similar. However, the one thing she noticed that the Elder Dragon had that he didn’t was what Ryu began to speak about next.

Innovation.

“Just because a spell is used in one way doesn’t mean that it could only be used like that. Experiment and learn through trial and error. Break down the components of your magic and create new ways to use them. An explosion is loud, flashy, and carry concussive force. With enough practice and control you could use that force factor to aid you in your movements. You could use their flashy display as a distraction. You could use the noise they make to disorient your enemies. There are many methods for you to choose from, not just these.”

This was what the Elder Dragon explained as Mastery and was soon demonstrated when Nicko used his runes on some stones to create some surprises for his teacher. Eris soon dismissed the ball and stretched out a little, feeling cramped after the amount of magic she used. “Man, does that drain a lot out of me.”

“Go ahead and take a break Eris. You deserve it.”

“Hehe… You’re too kind, Nicky.” The Chaos Spirit said as she disappeared. This left Nicko with Faith, Molly, Spike, and two earth ponies that have had a near death experience…… Wonderful.

But just when he thought that everything had begun to settle down. a new voice echoed throughout the castle. “Princess, Where is my daughter?”

Diamond looked up, startled. “D-dad?”

Oh great, Filthy Rich is here. Like Nicko wanted things to go from bad to worse. “Molly, you did remember to tell Twilight what happened right?”

“Um… kind of?”

“Kind of? The hell does that mean-?”

SLAM!!!

Just when Nicko asked that question, Filthy Rich bursted through the door like a Stallion on a Mission. Not even noticing Nicko and Faith, he rushed over to hug his daughter.

“Diamond, you’re okay!! You scared the hay out of me, young lady!!!”

“I’m sorry dad… It’s just……” The Earth Pony looked at her father. A bit timid.

“Just what? Why were you out there?”

“S-silver had the idea of us finding you something nice for Hearts Warming, so we were going to go to the Diamond Dog caves and get a Frozen Sapphire. You know… Like the one mom liked before she passed away…”

Nicko didn’t realize the situation and the fact that Filthy Rich’s facial expression changed dearly within those few seconds.

“W-we found what we were looking for since the Diamond Dogs were asleep for Hibernation. But when we left the cave, the blizzard hit. Then we were chased by a pack of winter wolves, Silver tripped and…… if it weren’t for Faith, we would have been done for.”

Filthy Rich turned his head in the direction in which her daughter was pointing at the young human girl. He was honestly surprised and at first didn’t believe that she could be capable to protecting Diamond Tiara. That was… until he saw the bandages across her chest and some of the blood soaking through in the shape of a claw. One that would resemble the beasts that his daughter spoke of.

“It’s true. I heard them and rushed to help. Glad we got them in the castle sooner than later. Silver was suffering from Hypothermia and if left out any longer, the same this could’ve happened to her.”

“T-thank you. I appreciate your help…… You actually remind me of a young lad I remembered a few years ago that saved my sister and daughter during a train heist.”

“Would that happen to be me, Mister Rich?” Nicko interjected as he stepped forward. The Stallion’s jaw dropped. Like everypony else in Ponyville, it was believed that Nicko was still encased in stone. Besides the Mane Six, the Cutie Mark Crusader and Amy and her family, nopony else knew of Nicko’s return.

“B-by Celestia herself. Is that really you?”

“Yup.” Nicko replied with a smile. “That’s not the only thing that’s surprising today. Faith is my niece. My brother is her father.”

They continued to talk for a while to pass the time while they waited for Silver Spoon to wake up. To Diamond’s surprise, she was not in trouble this time. Her father actually appreciated her going to extreme measures to get a gift that he would truly never forget. After a while, Silver’s mother soon showed up as she was starting to wake up, relieving them of any worries they might have. In fact, Silver’s reason for going out with Diamond was a lot similar. Except, in reverse. She wanted to find something for her mother after her father was a victim of the terrorist attack by the Diabolic Esper in Canterlot.

The mentioning of what happened in Canterlot made Nicko think about what happened then. Most importantly, what happened when he was there. Amy was put into a Coma and Applejack was beaten to within an inch of her life. He was thankful now that the psychopath was dead. But more importantly, that he was alive again. You don’t always get the chance to cheat death, especially if you’re a victim of getting stoned by Medusa… Hehehe, Stoned.

Anyways, after some time, Both Silver and Diamond left with their parents and things began to calm down a little bit. Faith herself wanted to take a nap in her room as she closed the door and the curtains, darkening the room as she laid to rest. But, she wasn’t alone.

Twas a few hours later, a small black wisp with a faintly glowing center floated through the room from it’s hiding place in the closet. It was cautious of it’s approach to the girl. But when it saw Faith, it gasped a little. “U-umbra?”

The girl soon turned a little as her eyes flickered open. The wisp then backed up to the center of the room, but stayed there. It didn’t believe that this young girl could see it’s presence in the room. But that was soon proven wrong.

“Huh?” The girl spoke as it slowly climbed out of it’s bed after only half an hour of sleep. “What are you, little light?”

“Y-you can see me?” The wisp asked in a low whisper. Faith’s only reply was a nod of the head as it tried to reach out and feel the wisp. Oddly enough, she felt… warm…

“You seem lost. Who are you?”

“What is there to know about me? I was once alive, Had a wife… a daughter… But I gave up everything that made me who I was so I had the power to protect my family and my kingdom. But even then, I couldn’t save them. I made too many mistakes and now… I’m just a wraith floating in the wind. Nopony would forgive me for what I have done.”

She looked at the wisp silently. But her facial expression did not change. There was no fear in her eyes. But she did say something that the wisp would consider as “Unexpected”.

“Are you a king, Mr. Wraith?”

“Some may think that, but not others.”

“Well……” Faith said. “Have you tried being a kind king?”

“A… kind king?”

“Yes… if you can change… then others can think differently of you.”

Their conversation was cut short when the two of them heard a loud knocking on the door. “Faith, are you in there?”

Before Faith could say anything, the wisp faded away as if it weren’t even in the room in the first place. She opened the door to see her Uncle outside it. “Hey, It’s getting close to dinner. Can you help out Spike in the kitchen?”

“Sure!” Faith said as she left the room. Before the door was closed though, Nicko thought he heard something in the darkened room.

He thought he heard Whispers. Whispers in the Dark.

End Log 5

Log 6- Beyond the Surface

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Beyond the Surface

Walking into the grand hallway of the Castle of Friendship was something that really had Faith at a loss for words. For one thing, she was amazed at the chandelier that loomed over the hallway. Looking into the crystals, the young girl was able to see images that represent all of Twilight’s memories while she lived in Ponyville. The Code Queen saw it as a beautiful piece of artwork and a nice decoration to the room.

On the way to the kitchen though, the two of them could hear some commotion from the room. It seemed as if a few ponies were talking to each other. But it got to the point where the entire conversation was echoing across the entire room. Nicko himself was itching a little because he thought it was Rainbow starting something that would cause a lot of chaos. After hearing the crashing of some pots and pans, Nicko decided to try and figure out what the hell was causing all of this.

“Okay, what the hell is with all of this racket!?!”

The site that he came across was the Cutie Mark Crusaders flat on the ground, covered in pots, pans and a bag of flour. Spike himself was facepalming himself with one of his claws as he looked at the two humans. “The girls wanted to help me with making fresh bread for dinner tonight, but they tripped on the step ladder when trying to get the flour from the top shelf.”

‘Well great, just what we needed. Cleanup on aisle four…’ The Rune Slayer thought to himself. “Do you need me to get the broom or can you handle this on your own?”

“I can help them, Uncle.” Faith volunteered as she helped out by using Moby and Remy as a personal vacuum cleaner while helping the girls. While doing so though, Nicko felt a familiar chill run down his spine as he turned around. He had felt the same sensation a few times before, but this was a bit new to him.

“Alright. I’ll be right back. I got something to take care of real quick.” The Rune Slayer told him before rushing out into the nearby hallway. Damn it, did this feel like the worst time to get himself summoned by another Displaced. Just as he was about to have dinner with his Niece no less. Well, this is the reason why we can’t have nice things.

Abandoned Minotaur Fortress… (Pegasus’ World)

“Mr. Pegasus, where are we going?”

The man, known as Maximilian Pegasus turned to the small filly besides him. “Starlight, we are going to the temple of the shadows. It’s not to far from here.” Looking at the duel disk on his wrist, he grimaced. “There is one located on the bottom of this stronghold.” Taking out three monster cards, he sacrificed all of his summoning points, “Star, I like to introduce you to your guards/guide!” Slamming the cards into the duel disk, he summoned out three ‘Toon’ monsters. The Toon Masked Sorcerer, The Toon Cannon Soldier, and Toon Alligator.

Starlight panicked when she saw the three ‘Toons’, but calmed down when she realized that they weren’t going to attack her. “Ummm… Hi?” She said hesitantly. The young filly became tense when she saw the trio move closer, and to her astonishment, they spoke.

“Ah! Hello young filly!” The sorcerer said, shaking her hoof.

“You can talk?!” Starlight yelled, astonished.

The alligator nodded, “Yup! We’re the Toon Trio.”

“We’re Pegasus’ right hand monsters!” The cannon toon explained. “And now-!” The three Toons huddled together all of them seaming to prepare for something, “Weeee areeee-”

“YOUR NEW GUIDES/BODYGUARDS!!” The three yelled, the cannon soldier fired confetti at her.

Pegasus rolled his eyes at his monster’s display. Then again, what could he expect from a bunch of Toons? He continued walking, not caring much if he left them behind. After all, the Toons are there to protect her if anything bad were to happen. “Toons!” He said, grabbing the three’s attention. “I want you to guard this filly. If anything were to happen to her, then it’ll be on your heads!” The Toons nodded and gave a mock salute. The trio, along with Starlight started to shuffle their way into the stronghold, making sure to not disturb Pegasus in anyway.

After walking for several minutes, a shining object near the side of the wall caught his attention. “My my, what is this?” He walked to the object to get a closer look. The Object looked a lot like a stone that would fit the palm of his hand (Or Starlight’s hoof for that matter) and had a strange marking on it. Like some sort of symbol. Not like an egyptian hieroglyph, but more like the inscriptions of most common spellbooks. “My my, Starlight?” He called the filly over. “Does this symbol mean anything to you?”

Hearing the human’s question, Starlight looked at it. “I-i’m not sure. It looks kind of… Dim. Maybe if I rub it a little, I can see it better.”

Turns out, the filly’s hoof rubbing it caused the stone to warmly glow in the filly’s hoof. Startled by the reaction, the unicorn dropped the stone. But seconds later, a flash of light went off, followed by a new presence exiting a dark overhang he ended up in.

“Hmm? A filly? That’s… New.” It said. The filly was now looking at a figure similar to Pegasus, but different in appearance as it stood up straight. It wore a long red coat with a black sleeveless undershirt and pants. It had a sword strapped to it’s back and also had silver plated shoes.

Pegasus looked at the new arrival, shocked! This being was another human, he thought that only Alice and Jack (If he can even be considered human) were the only humans left. He grabbed five cards from his deck and stood ready. “Step away from the filly.”

The New figure turned to see Pegasus, a little surprised himself. “Easy there my friend. I don’t mean any harm. You did summon me after all.”

Pegasus blinked, a bit surprised about what the boy said. Looking at his duel disk, he panicked seeing that there wasn’t a card with his picture on it. “If I did summon you, then tell me…” He showed his duel disk to the new arrival. “Why is it that your card isn’t here!”

“Card?” He asked. “No, I don’t mean that kind of summoning. I mean using my token.”

“Token?” Pegasus looked at the object Starlight had picked up. “You mean that?”

“Thats right.” Nicko said. He then thought something… This guy was like Bryce back in his world. “I’m assuming that you’re a Displaced?”

“Displaced?” He asked, letting himself relax; but still ready for an attack. “Tell me, what’s a Displaced?”

“It’s short for Dimensionally Misplaced. I’ve met others who ended up in different versions of Equestria because of different circumstances. But to make it simple, The Multiverse Theory allows for the possibility of Multiple different versions of Equestria to exist. Which also allows for other people to become Displaced as well. Plus, Displaced have what is called a “Summoning Token”. Something that is based off of the character or person that they are. For you two, you found my Rune Slayer Mark.”

Pegasus put a hand over his Millenium Eye, deactivating it. He had scanned his mind for any lies or for any malicious intentions, and so far found none. “So there are other Displaced around the multiverse?”

The Rune Slayer nodded his head. “Yes. I’ve met four of them so far. Two of them being dragons. You would be considered number five. My name is Nicko, by the way. Nicko Nocte.”

“Pegasus. Maximilian Pegasus.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Pegasus.” Nicko said, now looking at the young filly that was with him. “What’s your name, Miss?”

Starlight hid herself behind Pegasus’ leg. “It’s Starlight. Starlight Glimmer.”

Now that caught Nicko by surprise. Deathwing had told him that a mare by that same name could steal somepony’s Cutie Mark. But, this was not like anything he expected. She was way younger. It almost reminded him of Fluttershy based on how timid she was. Maybe he could befriend her so she wouldn’t go down whatever path would lead her to wanting to steal other’s cutie marks. A little kindness can go a long way.

“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Starlight. It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I wouldn’t be to sure of that young miss.” The Toon Sorcerer said, floating in front of her. “After all we don’t know much about him.” The two other Toons ran towards her, and stood defensively.

Playing along with what the toons said, Nicko spoke again. “Well, I’m human. Twenty five years old, got imprisoned in stone for seven years in an act to protect my brother from a psychotic esper and I woke up to find out that I have a Twelve year old Niece. Plus, I’m capable of Rune Magic.” The last part, Nicko demonstrated with a snap of his fingers and a small Ice Rune appearing in his hands. The center of the rune showing a snowflake.

“I don’t mean to be frightening. I just want to be friends with you guys.” The Rune Slayer commented, focusing it on Starlight and trying to comfort her.

Starlight poked her head out of Pegasus’ leg, looking at Nicko, she hid herself away, still feeling shy. “Umm….”

At Starlight’s hesitance, the Toon Sorcerer flew in front of him. “There you see! She rather be with us! And doesn’t need another human to be with her!” He finished, crossing his arms.

“Yes, but there’s something that I can relate to. I was once in a position like her. Scared, Shy and Alone. My brother and I both. We were in a orphanage from when we were six for about twelve years because our parents disappeared. Many people picked on me and teased me for not just being the kid without a father or mother, but because of other things like how tall I am and other things. But, I learned that if you stand up for yourself and have someone there to support you, you can be able to overcome anything. My friend Leo taught me that. He was there since Day 1 and I feel like he still has my back even though he’s back home and I’m here.”

Starlight hesitantly walked over to Nicko and tried to hug him. “Well I could be your friend, I was picked on too!” She looked back at her cutie mark. “They picked on me because they were jealous of my cutie mark.” She instantly brighten up. “And Pegasus is trying to teach me about true harmony!”

Nicko returned the hug the filly was trying to give him. “See? There’s always a reason for you to be proud of yourself. If you can get this far with him, you can accomplish anything.”

Pegasus cleared his throat, catching the attention of the group, “Yes while I’d hate to disrupt such a heartwarming scene, we do have a temple to be in.” He looked at Starlight. “Starlight, could I borrow the Millenium Ring you have?”

The filly pulled out the ring from her saddle bags, and hand it to him. “Here you go Mr. Pegasus!” Grabbing the Millenium Ring, the ring started to glow, the needles started pointing to a specific direction.

Turning to Nicko, Pegasus addressed him. “You are welcomed to come with us if you’d like, but I must get to the temple to replenish my life points.”

“I would, but I need to return to my niece.” Nicko told both Pegasus and Starlight. “Though, Displaced do have summoning tokens to call upon each other in times of need. Would you happen to have one so I can call upon you two if I need to? It’ll be great to see you too again.”

“Unfortunately no, but I can create one!” Searching his deck for a specific card, he took out his Toon World card. “A token could be anything, correct?”

“Yes.” Nicko responded. “My Elder Dragon teacher Ryu gave me this for himself.” To show what he meant, the Rune Slayer held out a golden insignia of a dragon with a tear like jewel in the center. “If I remember correctly, your toon monsters are based off of the Toon World spellbook, correct?”

“That is correct.” He answered, “Their power comes from the book, without it they’re doomed.”

“Well, why don’t you create a replica of the book? It can be pocket sized, like a small notebook. But when you put your magic into it, it can grow into it’s full size. Additionally, putting a little more energy could allow me to summon both of you.”

The Rune Slayer had a very valid point. Pegasus looked at the card, slamming it onto the duel disk. The book was summoned, a very familiar melody came out of it. “Well, here goes nothing.” Pouring his magic into the book, the pop-up book closed and landed in front of him. “Is there something I’m supposed to say?”

“Anything you believe that the other Displaced who find it would want to hear. For me, I have this.” Nicko said as both the Filly and the Creator of Duel Monsters heard an echo.

I am Nicko. The Rune Slayer with a kind heart. The power that's in my grasp and that you control will become the power that the darkness will fear. May there be light on the roads that you travel.

“See? Simple as that.”

Pegasus looked on, intrigued. Perhaps this could prove to help him in the future! “Alright, let’s begin!” Grabbing the Toon World book, he opened it and gave a small speech. "True peace can only be achieved through power, true harmony can only be achieved if all are united under one single banner. If you are ever in need of assistance or if you are a fellow warrior of Harmony, summon us and we will come to you. I am Pegasus, Spirit of Harmony, and the wielder of the Millennium Items."

Closing the book, he looked at Nicko. “Now, how do I send it?”

“Just have your Toon Sorcerer open a small tear in space and toss it in, I guess. Mind sparing me a copy though before you do so?”

Nodding, he pulled out another card and summoned it. “Doppelganger! Come on out!” Slamming the card down, the Toon World theme played again. A long blue cat-like creature appeared and flew next to Pegasus. “Doppelganger, please be a dear and make a Toon World copy for our dear friend.” The cat saluted, glowing white, he transformed himself into a copy of the Toon World token. “There you are, my good friend.”

“Thank you, Pegasus. Oh and Starlight? Go ahead and keep my token. Call upon anytime you need my help.” The Rune Slayer said, before creating a return portal to his world and waving goodbye. Before stepping through though, Nicko left behind a small parting gift. A small frozen sculpture of Pegasus and Starlight that was actually created through the Ice Rune he conjured earlier. It Sparkled in the minimal light that shined in the corridor.

Starlight gasped, looking at the sculpture as she smiled. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

Pegasus looked at the sculpture and grinned. “Well now, Sorcerer!” The Toon perked up. “I need you to send this across the multiverse.” He said, passing the Toon World token to his Toon. The Masked Sorcerer pulled out a pair of scissors, and literally started to cut a hole into the empty space.

Looking at the token, he threw it and waved. “Bye bye now!”

Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s world)

When Nicko returned, he was back in the hallway of Twilight’s Castle like no time had passed at all. But one thing though was different. He arrived just as Twilight entered the Hall.

“What the-?”

‘Aww, F*** me.’ Nicko cursed. ‘Did I ever pick the wrong time to come back.’

“Nicko, where were you just now? You’ve been gone for five minutes.”

“Five minutes? I thought I was gone longer…” The Rune Slayer replied. “But to answer your question, I was summoned by another Displaced.”

“Displaced?”

“Yeah. I’m going to assume that you’re familiar with the terminology?”

“Quite. Amy has had a few of them show up in town once or twice. Yuri though was the one who explained to me what the whole thing was about.” This now had the Princess of Friendship become a little curious. “Who exactly summoned you though?”

“A man that went by the name of Maximilian Pegasus.” Nicko told her, showing a rough sketch that he composed from a page in the Journal he kept on hand. “He’s the holder of a collection of Objects in his world called the Millenium Items and even has one of them be his left eye. Though, there was one thing that surprised me though.”

“Oh?” Twilight said, picking up on the social cues. “What’s that?”

“Remember when you told me about Starlight Glimmer? Well, I ran into her… but she was a lot different from what you described. In fact, she was a lot younger. The age of a filly.” This indeed surprised Twilight, but she decided to hold off on any rational judgements until she heard the whole story. “Not just that, but she was also very shy and timid. Almost like Fluttershy now. I was able to restore her confidence and become friends with her, so I hope I did something right…”

“I… hope you did. Showing support from a young age helps build character. Now come on, lets go to dinner… We got some guests that would be looking forward to seeing you again.”

“Hold on… What guests?”

The Alicorn smiled. “You’ll see.” Soon, the door opened to the dining hall, introducing the Rune slayer to a lot of individuals that he had seen over the years. But there were two that he saw that totally caught him off guard.

They were both Musicians. One was a DJ and the other was a Cellist.

“Oh my stars… NICKO!!!”

“VINYL!?! TAVI!!? HOLY CRAP!!!”

“Uncle, what’s going on?”

“Faith, Vinyl and Octavia were the two ponies that found me when I first came to this world. They helped me get use to my surroundings and become familiar with everypony else.”

“Yup, that’s us… What did she mean by Uncle though?”

“She’s my niece Vinyl. Faith is Anson’s daughter.” The Rune Slayer told her along with explaining to everyone about the events that have occurred recently, excluding seeing Bryce, Deathwing and Maximilian Pegasus. He didn’t want to complicate things with having to explain to everypony about the Displaced and the Multiverse. Especially when tonight was Pizza night.

The rest of the night was filled with more food, fun and games the longer it progressed. Even Amy, Molly and Jane had a fun time as it went from dinner to dessert. But things got a little TOO much fun when Jane used an opportunity to put a cherry pie in Prince Blueblood’s face after hearing about the “Insults” he said about her seven years ago. Faith herself giggled when seeing this unfold because it reminded her of Grandma Ciela. Despite her size, she was able to accomplish a lot of things. Especially when most people had mistaken her to be Faith’s sister.

As the night toned down and dinner had finished, everypony soon went to return back home and to their beds. But to Faith, she couldn’t sleep. Something felt like it was keeping her awake. Maybe it was the wisp she saw before? The Code queen forced herself to stop thinking about it as she finally closed her eyes. In the distance though, from the trees, something else stared at her with Fox like eyes. Only visible by the night’s glow before it leaped away and out of sight once more.

End Log 6

Log 7- She Wolf

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- She Wolf

It was almost four in the morning and Neither Faith or Nicko could be able to sleep. For Nicko, it was because of some thoughts that lingered inside his head. But for Faith, it was because she was so eager to go meet another Displaced. So, the Code Queen did what she thought was natural. Wake up her uncle.

“Psst… Uncle Nicko. Uncle.”

“H-hunh? Faith?...... Let me guess, can’t sleep?”

“Yeah. You too?”

“Seems like it… Hey, since were up, you interested in an early morning adventure?”

Faith nodded happily as she returned to her room and allowed her uncle to get dressed. Nicko came into her room a few seconds later to find that Faith had already chosen which tokens she wanted to use from the small collection they had. She held what looked like a small bone and a ball that looked like a cherry bomb.

“I found these two together, so why don’t you take the bone and I take the ball.”

“Okay, Faith. But remember, unlike last time when we met Neltharion, we don’t have Eris or Chaotic with us so be careful when we are out there okay?” The young girl nodded her head and did like her uncle instructed to do as they conjured the small portal, one for each of them.

“We’ll enter on the count of three… One-.”

Before the Rune Slayer could say anything else, Faith jumped in immediately, ignoring her Uncle’s words. “Heh… Kids.” Soon, Nicko followed behind her as the small portal closed.

Cave of the sun

The wolf goddess yawned as she rolled from her place on the stone floor. Doing her usual routine of checking whether Celestia raised the sun or not then trying to wake up the smaller sun god on the floor.

But this time, Her routine went a little differently. A portal appeared just in front of her cave. Quickly jumping behind a stalagmite, She watched as something unexpected walked out. Rather, Two unexpected somethings.

The first was a white haired girl with weird technologic like clothes and a jewel on her forehead while the other was a man in a red cloak and black sleeveless shirt and pants. “I thought we were jumping in at the same time, Faith.”

“I just couldn’t help myself-.”

Faith’s comment was interrupted once her eyes laid sight on the small wolf pup in the room. In which to her, she saw a puppy. Going over to it, she softly began to pet it and soon hugged it in a loving embrace. “Awww!! Uncle Nicko, Can we keep it? I always wanted a puppy.”

“That’s… not a dog Faith.” Nicko warned his niece. “That’s a wolf pup. Plus, it’s mother is bound to be somewhere.”

The Sun goddess decided it was time to make herself known.

“You will NOT hurt Landon.” She spoke to them telepathically. Nicko was the first to turn around. Positioning himself between the Wolf and his niece. He recognized the wolf from somewhere…

“Oh boy… Faith…… Put the pup down…”

“But he’s so soft and cuddly…” Faith said with puppy dog eyes.

“Ngh… What’s going on… Huh?! Who are you?!” The small wolf shouts telepathically, struggling to get out of Faith’s arms.

“Aww… he likes my hugs.”

“Naomi! Help!”

“Wait…… Faith, put him down. I just thought of something.” The Rune Slayer told his niece. This time, she was compliant, setting the pup down back on the stone floor as Nicko sat down in a normal Lotus Meditation position as he looked at both of the wolves and their red markings. “I think these two are Displaced.”

“If you mean we were taken away from Earth then you would be spot on.” Amaterasu said mentally.

“The same thing happened to us, but on different circumstances. I’m Nicko Nocte and this is my niece Faith. It is a pleasure to meet you two.”

“Naomi Misuka.”

“Landon Ward. I don’t think I really like Faith…”

“Aww…” Faith moaned with eyes that would make Landon think he caused a little children to cry. Naomi swatted Landon with her paw as he wondered what he did wrong.

“Landon, we don’t say if we don’t like someone OUT LOUD!!”

“Meh. Not my fault.”

“It’s always your fault.”

Nicko sighed to himself as he comforted Faith and remembered something. “So, should we call you by your normal names… or by your god names. Amaterasu and Chibiterasu.”

“I don’t really care.” Naomi replies mentally.

“Anything but that.” Landon mentally deadpans.

“Alright then, Chibi.” Faith giggled at Landon’s reaction to being called that.

“Gaah! Loopholes!”

“Heehee… Sorry, it’s just easier if I say toned down versions of long names. It’s better for my memory since I’m not always good with it.” Faith replied. “It still reminds me of when we met Nelly.”

“You mean Neltharion?”

“Yeah, but I prefer to call him Nel. Not by his other nickname… What was it again?”

“Deathwing?” Nicko told her.

“Right, so anyways, where were we, Chibi?”

“I’m just going to ignore the use of that nickname.” The younger wolf sighed as he looked at the white haired girl

“Well, it’s either than or calling you Lan. Maybe Lando like that guy in Star Wars.” Faith chuckled to herself.

“Weeell, At least it’s better than Chibi or some of the other names he got in the game…” Landon says.

“Whatever you say, dude.” Nicko smiled, looking towards Amaterasu.

She looked like she was silently holding in laughter. The sun goddess quickly swallowed the laughter and cleared her throat.

“Right, So why exactly are you here?” She asks.

“Well, we came here through a Displaced token, which I believe happens to be for both of you.” Nicko said as he held out the Holy bone and Faith held out the Small Cherry bomb.

“I don’t remember seeing these…” Naomi mutters.

“Well, to understand it a little, it might require a bit of explaining.” Nicko started as he straightened himself up. “You see, Displaced means Dimensionally misplaced and if you know science and what not, there can be multiple dimensions of one place. Now, in this case, there are multiple versions of Equestria with each one having their own Displaced. But they could call upon other Displaced using what’s called a summoning token. However, a Token works like a magnet. Either you summon the Displaced you want to fight alongside you or you bring yourself to them on accident. Trust me, it’s happened before.”

“I think I understand?” Naomi replies.

“I kinda zoned out at the start…” Landon admits.

“Well, let’s make it simple. Think Final Fantasy summonings, but it working two ways. Not only can you summon them, but you can summon yourself to them.” Nicko said, hoping that it would help Landon get a better understanding.

“Ohhhh. ok. I feel foolish now.” He says, nodding his head.

“It’s okay. It’s a lot to take in when you meet another Displaced for the first time.”

“Last question, Who exactly sent us here?” Naomi ask.

“That… depends. Most people end up here because of a figure named The Merchant, but for Faith, the circumstances were different. She found a small pendant that went along with a costume she found in the attic of her home and then ended up in Equestria when she woke up.”

“Let see.. I remember… buying something then… It’s kinda blurry.” Naomi says, thinking back.

“You seriously can’t remember?” Landon asked.

“It’s been a thousand years!” She yelled.

“Hey, just out of curiosity, Where’s that Disk you keep on your back?” Nicko asked. “You know… I think the name was Divine… something.”

“Divine Retribution. I’ve figured out how to make it appear and disappear on cue.” Naomi explained, Making the reflector appear and vanish with a burst of light. The Rune Slayer nodded with a slight “Ahh.” as he saw the goddess perform the action. But soon, his hearing began to pick up something else. The sound of hooves.

“Uhh, Naomi? Were you expecting any early morning visitors?”

“It’s probably Sweetie. She said… sometime… I honestly don’t remember but she said she was going to visit.. Maybe? I was kinda busy at the time.” Naomi sheepishly replied.

“Oh great… More visitors that want to hug me.”

“I wouldn’t blame them.” Faith said. “You are so FREAKING CUTE!!!”

“I am not CUTE!”

“Yes you are!! You’re just not admitting it!!” Faith told the wolf as she quickly grasped Landon in another snuggle hug. “SNUGGLE!!!”

“GAAAHH!”

Nicko was trying to hold in his laughter as he watched Faith cuddle with the Wolf Child.

“I think Sweetie took another wrong direction…” Naomi sighs, hearing the hoofsteps get fainter.

“Should we go look? Or have Faith and Chibi go look- Agh!!”

As soon as Nicko stepped outside, his leg was caught in a lasso rope trap. As his sword fell down to the ground, he noticed three girls in the trees above him.

“Alright! We totally got one!”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MONSTER HUNTERS!!!”

“Oh great……” Nicko groaned as his coat fell off now.

Naomi stepped outside the cave and giggled.

“Wait… I’ve got a good one! Why are you just…. Hanging around?”

“Seriously…… Worst pun ever.”

“Hey girls!! It even talks Equish!! We’re one step closer to completing that Species Project for school!!!”

“Sweetie belle, Can you let my friend down?” The goddess says, stifling her laughter. The Filly, upon noticing this, tried to untangle the ropes. But due to Applebloom’s knot tying skills, this was harder than you would think. Naomi, sighing, used the Celestial brush and drew a single stroke to execute a Power Slash and cut the rope. This though, cause Nicko to fall on his head.

“OWW!!”

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright, I’ve had to deal with worse. Think about yourself running from a ticked off Griffonia because they see you as an intruder.”

“Eugh. Yeah… I couldn’t outrun them.”

“But, things toned down once my teacher settled things down.” Nicko sighed as he brushed the dirt off his clothes.

“Guessing another Displaced?”

“Yup. An Elder Dragon named Ryu.”

“OOOH! Girls, it knows a Dragon!!”

“You do realize I have a name right?” Nicko sighed as he watched Faith and Landon come out of the cave. Sweetie Belle turned, seeing the young wolf and the girl. Preparing herself, she soon pounced onto the wolf.

“NOOOOO! Not againnnn!” Landon cried. Faith though, used the moment to cuddle both of them at the same time, making Sweetie Belle giggle.

“This is so much fun!! Well, for me, but meh… Who cares?”

“I care!” Landon snapped.

“Hush, Squiddy.” Nicko said, hearing the wolf’s cries that hurt his ears as he was trying to adjust himself.

A green line then started to connect the two wolves together as Landon was sent flying out of Faith’s arms by the Vine technique. Sweetie Belle was treating the experience like an amusement park ride as she was floating in the air. “WHEEE!!!”

“That’s some filly that you made friends with, Ammy.” Nicko commented as he caught Sweetie Belle when she jumped from the vine.

“I honestly just saved her from a manticore. That’s all.”

“Well, she see’s you as more than that.” Nicko said, looking behind him as the sun was rising. “Which begs the question…… do your sisters know you’re out this early?”

“Uh… No…” Two of the three fillies answer. Scootaloo didn’t say anything.

“And what season is it Ammy?” Nicko asked as he turned towards the wolf. “Spring?”

“Early season 4 I think?”

“Wrong season, Naomi.” Landon muttered.

“Go jump in the Mermaid Spring.” She mutters in return.

“He’s asking what month it is, sunbutt.” The young wolf retorted before hiding himself behind Faith.

“Don’t you DARE associate me with her! She’s lazy and I’m not!”

“Uhh, Ammy?” Nicko interjected. “I hate to break it to you, but he is right. I was asking for what month it was. Because if it’s spring… then it’s harvest… and if it’s harvest……”

“APPLEBLOOM!!!”

“Welp, That answers that.”

“Aww man!!” Applebloom pouted.

“Come on, let’s get you back to Sweet Apple Acres. You can ask me questions for your “Project” after you do your chores. How does that sound?” Nicko offered as Amaterasu walked alongside him. The other two Crusaders followed them, along with Faith and Landon, who was still scared after the freak out with Naomi. Applebloom though was happy as they soon came across the side of the barn on the famous Sweet Apple Acres property, where her sister was waiting.

“Now then, where the hay were-. WHAT IN TARNATIONS!?!”

“Uhh… Hi Applejack.” Applebloom squeaked.

“Land Sake, sis!! What were you fillies doing up this early!?” The Farm pony asked as his brother soon came out and saw the small group.

“We were… doing a project. The one for Ms. Cheerlie’s class.”

“At five in the morning?”

“Yes…”

“On a sunday?”

“ ……… Yes.”

Applejack looked a lot different from the way Nicko remembered it. First off, she was an actual pony and not an Anthropomorphic one. Second, she was up to Nicko’s waist on all four of her hooves with her head going up to his elbows. But one thing was for sure, she was still the same mare he remembered the last time she saw her.

“And what did ya happen to catch this time?” Was the Element of Honesty’s next question.

“Well, it was less like catch and more like decided to come along-.” Faith speaking though, startled Applejack and Big Mac.

“Y-you can talk!?”

Nicko facepalmed himself as he and Naomi looked at her. “Nice job…”

“Sorry…”

“No use feeling sorry now.” Naomi mutters.

“It’s okay, Faith. Mistakes happen.” Nicko said. “Applejack, am I right? We mean no harm to your sister and her friends. She happened to find myself, my niece, and two friends of mine and we decided to help bring them home so they were safe.

“Where were you though?”

That… was a good question. The Cave of the Sun was where they were, but he didn’t know where the cave entrance was located. Was it in the Everfree Forest? Nearby the lake? Naomi soon answered that question.

“My home. No, You can’t know where it is. It’s protected by several charm spells to prevent robbers.” She deadpans.

“Okay, I understand your reasons for it. But something concerns me… With it being the Harvest, we have one major problem-.”

That’s when a series of howls began to echo in the distance and all of them began to see multiple pairs of green eyes.

“-Timberwolves.”

“Let me handle this… Everfree monsters kinda respect me in a-” Naomi never finished that as she was tackled by one. Nicko kicked it off of the wolf and then used his magic to conjure a Wind Blade to destroy it.

“Faith, protect the fillies!!”

“Yes, Uncle!!” She replied as Moby and Remy soon formed by her side. With the skills she knew, the Code Nemesis put up an Atomic Shield that surrounded not only Landon, the girls, and Appleblooms siblings, but the Barn as well. “Stay inside the bubble, you’ll be safe for now.

Twin lines started to flow midair as the burst away in blue smoke. Rain began to pour down as Deluge took effect, Reacting like acid to the timberwolves barkskin.

“Nice job.” Nicko complimented Naomi. “You okay after getting tackled earlier?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” She replied.

“Alright. I’m guessing the rain is helping out by weakening them?”

“Should stop them in their tracks until it lets up.”

“Allowing us an opportunity to strike?”

“Yep.”

“Alright, just tell me when.” Nicko said as he unsheathed his sword. Getting a good grip on it, he turned towards Naomi, waiting for a signal.

Drawing a single stroke across the Timberwolves, she enacted a Power Slash against them. In all of a sudden the marking on her coat faded and her reflector vanished.

“Oh crap. Ran out of ink. Deluge took it out…” She moaned.

She pawed the ground before shouting two words.

“WOLF FUUUUUUUU!!!” She all of a sudden ran up and without thinking tackled the timberwolves similar to what they did to her. Soon though, Nicko leaped in and caught Naomi.

“Get yourself refueled. I got this.” He told her as the Rune Slayer gripped his sword. Putting a rune on the blade, Nicko used the lesson on mastery Ryu taught him in a different way. Normally, he would have the magic explode from his hand or on his feet to make himself move faster. he then proceeded to strike a few of the wolves, leaving a mark of the rune on their bodies.

“Click… Click… Boom!”

One snap of the finger later and the runes on the Timberwolves became live explosives, detonating and annihilating them.

“Wow.”

“Not done yet. We still got five more left.” Nicko told her, seeing five pairs of eyes in the distance.

“Alright... “ She mutters, stepping up with her markings back.

Seeing an opening a Timberwolf charged. What it didn’t take into account is the giant tree that had just sprouted out of nowhere.

“I’d watch out for that.” Naomi taunts the dazed Timberwolf.

“Is that some kind of mutation?”

“No. It’s bloom.” Naomi explains, Making a single dot pop up. Later in it’s place was another giant tree.

‘Oh I get it. The Celestial Brush.’ Nicko thought to himself. “Get them close enough and I can take them down in one spell.”

The sun goddess nods and takes a fighting position. The Rune Slayer gave her the nod of approval for her to commence her attack as he began to channel his power. Charging forward, she stuck with trying to attack the wolves head on with her reflector, despite not knowing how. Slicing those who got near, she eventually managed to get them in a group.

“Got them!”

“Alright. Now Ammy, Jump!!”

The Sun goddess was confused at first, but soon realized what he was doing as his hand made contact with the ground. Nicko’s magic surged as it sprang from the ground, hitting each of the wolves with the skill called Rising Wave, an ability that sends a series of magic blades forward in a rising motion from underneath the opponent.

“Woah…” Landon spoke.

“One, two, three… Just like that.” The Rune Slayer smiled as he sheathed his blade.

“You have one awesome uncle, Faith.” Applebloom told her as she lowered the shield.

“Everypony okay?” Nicko soon asked as he walked back on over to the rest of the group. But soon, he noticed something in the air. “Okay, who called the Princess Patrol?”

“Not me.” Naomi and Landon spoke at the same time.

“Something tells me it was your magic, Uncle Nicko.” Faith replied. “Back where we’re from, Yuri said that Unicorn’s and Alicorn’s can feel how powerful a caster is depending on how dense their magic is.”

‘Like Power levels in Dragon Ball Z…… Fan-freaking-tastic’ Nicko sighed.

‘Was your power over 9000?’ Naomi soon spoke mentally.

‘YOU HEARD THAT!?!’

‘What part of Telepathy do you not understand?’

Nicko’s only response was smacking his face as Princess Twilight, Celestia and Luna landed nearby.

“Wassup Celly?” Naomi speaks like nothing happened.

“What happened? Don’t lie to me, Amaterasu. We felt the magic from Canterlot. So what happened?”

“If you must know, Timberwolves.”

“Timberwolves?” Twilight asked. “I’m sorry, but single word answers aren't helping us here.”

“Just Timberwolves happened.”

“Yeah, but they took care of them like Ka-Blam!! POW!! SMACK!!!” Scootaloo said, impersonating sound effects from comic books. “Both her and Nicko.”

“Forgive me, but who is this Nicko that you speak of, young Scootaloo?” Luna asked.

“You know, I’m standing right here, right?” The Rune Slayer said as he leaned back and put his arms behind his head. Celestia now looked at Naomi, narrowing her gaze to where she looked serious.

“Don’t blame me! They just came out of a magic portal!”

“And how are we to believe that? This little thing doesn’t look like he could-.”

Before Luna was able to finish her sentence, Nicko straightened himself as his expression changed. His magic kicked in as he conjured a medium sized rune in his hand.

“I am NOT a thing!! I am Nicko Nocte!! And you will FEAR MY LASER FACE!!”

Faith now was the one to facepalm herself. “Oh brother… That was one thing I forgot to mention…”

“What’s wrong, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“My uncle is not a fan of being referred to by his height. This happened before when we met Chrysalis in another Dimension.”

Twilight’s ears perked up at hearing the last two words from Faith’s previous sentence. Looking at both her, Nicko, Naomi and Landon now, she was thinking something through.

“Uhhh… Yeah, I think we should go before she tries to experiment on us...”

Nicko sighed. “Trust me. I got this…”

“Got what?”

“So, Princesses, should we discuss this somewhere else? I believe the Apple Family rather not have us delay them from helping with the harvest.”

“He does have a point, Princess.” Twilight replied. With a nod, Celestia casted a spell and soon, Nicko, Faith, Naomi, and Landon found themselves in Canterlot and no longer on the property of the farm.

“Could you give us a warning before you do that next time?”

“Sorry, no can do.”

‘F*ck.’

“Such a troll.” Naomi joked around, looking at Nicko.

“Welcome to Canterlot Castle. I must admit, this might be a little sudden, but I thought it would be easier to bring you here than anywhere else.” Celestia stated. “Now, Amaterasu, care to introduce us to your companions?”

She rolls her eyes. “I guess. The guy over here is Nicko, and the girl is Faith, His niece.”

“And where are you from, Nicko and Faith?”

“Would it be crazy to say another Equestria?” Faith asked. Twilight’s eyes widened as well as the princesses. “Too soon?.”

“They asked.” Landon said.

“Amaterasu…… explanation… NOW!!!”

“Calm down, Nick Fury. We’re getting there.” Nicko said. “My niece and I are Displaced. Short for Dimensionally Misplaced. There are others like us who end up getting themselves somehow sent to different versions of Equestria. Which is possible according to the Multiverse theory.”

“Multi-what?”

Nicko sighed, rummaging through his bag and grabbing a series of papers. “Here, seems like you have some required reading to do. It’s a report from the Clover the Clever in my world that composed a theory based on what we're talking about.”

It took about ten minutes for the princesses to go through the papers and clear up some common miscommunication. Then, Celestia began to speak. “So let me see if I get this right… You two used a Token to come to our Equestria?”

“To put it lightly, yes.” Faith said, Sitting down and cuddling Landon again.

“Please stoppp!” Landon moans.

“But you’re so soft!” She says, petting Landon between the ears and massaging him.

“Why does that feel so good!” He yelps.

“Because you’re such a good puppy!!” Faith cheerfully said as she gives him a belly rub once Landon hit the floor.

“I gotta say, Landon looks adorable like that.” Nicko chuckled.

“I’M NOT ADORABLE!”

“DENIAL IS PROOF!!!” Faith announced, rubbing Landon’s ears some more.

“Since when does that make sense?!”

“You’re in Denial that you’re not adorable. Therefore, you think you are, you handsome pup!!” Nicko himself chuckled a little more at his niece’s logic. She reminded him of when his brother was younger.

“I give up! Just stop hugging me!”

“What’s the magic word, Chibi?”

Landon remained silent then muttered something unheard.

“I can’t hear you…” Faith teased, now proceeding to rub under Lance’s chin in a massaging manor.

“Gaaah! Pl...ease…” He muttered.

“Good boy!” Faith congratulated, setting Landon free. “See, a little bit of courtesy can go a long way.”

“Wow… Never thought you would be the Animal Whisperer…” Nicko said, surprised at how Faith handled the situation with Landon.

“I do the same thing with Grandma Ciela all the time.”

Now that got Nicko to laugh. Who knew that the same tactics worked on his mother?

“Probably should have mentioned this ahead of time, But Landon has an ego slightly bigger than Rainbow Dash. He denies it however.” Naomi snickered as she looked back at the Wolf Pup.

“I DO NOT!”

“WHAT DID I TELL YOU, CHIBI!?! DENIAL IS PROOF!!!!”

“I’m just going to take your crazy logic and throw it out the window.” Landon replied.

“Right… So where were we before we got all sidetracked?” The Rune Slayer asked, trying to bring the conversation back to the original topic before the chronicles of Faith and Landon occurred.

“I believe we were talking about the Multiverse?” Twilight stated, eagerly holding a quill in a telekinetic grip and wanting to write down notes.

“Ah yes. Well, each version of Equestria is different in their own way. For example, where I’m from, Celestia has a little brother instead of a little sister named Artemis. Also, each one differs depending on what world you enter. How we came here though is through these two tokens, which I believe belong to Amaterasu and Chibiterasu.” With this, Nicko took out the Holy Bone he held onto and also the small cherry bomb that Faith used earlier.

Landon burst out laughing.

“Is that a tiny cherry bomb?!”

“I believe so, and I think that one is yours…” Faith said. “It works out so well since you’re just as tiny as this.”

“I’m not that tiny! Am I?”

“Twilight, do you happen to have a mirror?” Nicko asked. The Alicorn nodded, Bringing in a wide view mirror so they could compare the height of the four Displaced. Out of all of them, Landon was indeed… the shortest.

“Oh come on! Back on earth I was the tallest out of all of us!” He continued on in a rant about their sizes.

“Oh zip it. I was this size when I first got here and when I was turned to stone. You have nothing to complain about.”

Twilight and the other Princesses blinked a little. “I-i’m sorry. Did you say “Turned to Stone”? Like by the elements?”

“Long story short, my brother and I were fighting a crazed maniac and when the Elements of Harmony tried to encase him in stone, the maniac deflected the blast towards my brother and I took the hit instead. Waking up seven years later, I find Faith and found out she was my niece and that my brother was her Father.”

Landon blinked. “Now that’s what I called being Stoned.” A faint rim shot was heard in the distance.

“Not funny, Mutt.” Nicko snarled. “Not funny.”

“I’m the only one here who gets to make puns.” Naomi growls. Faith herself joined the other two and looked down on Landon. All three were disappointed in him, but Faith was the one who expressed it in words. “Bad boy, I thought we teached you better manners than that!! Do you want me to leave you at Fluttershy’s?”

“I’m not a child! I’m twenty two! Quit treating me like one!”

“Technically, you are a pup.” Twilight pointed out. “Amaterasu is your mother, right?”

“HELL NO!” They both shouted.

“Right…… forget I asked.” The Alicorn said. Before she could continue though, Twilight turned towards Nicko now. “So Mr. Nicko. Before you go anywhere, can you give a demonstration of your magic?”

“Sure. Faith can demonstrate what she can do as well.”

“Okay, Uncle!” Faith happily replied, summoning both Moby and Remy from their standby forms.

“W-what was that?”

“Oh, I just summoned my Two drones. This is Moby and that’s Remy.”

“Pfft, you gave them names?” Landon smirked with a snarky attitude, only to be startled when the Drones began to speak.

“Why yes, pup. We’re Ms. Faith’s guides and guardians, fighting alongside her whenever it is necessary.”

“Most of Faith’s powers are technological based in which she can construct with the help of Moby and Remy.” Nicko explained as Faith revealed the Nasod Spears that were along her back like wings. “As for me, I use Rune Magic to conjure multiple kinds of spells. Some runes are explosive, while others create blades from magic.” Nicko demonstrated by conjuring a small rune and detonating it in the palm of his hand.

“So that’s what the magic is called…” Naomi mutters.

“Yes. I’m a Rune Slayer and Faith is what she calls herself a Code Nemesis. Not in a bad way, of course.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Twilight says, writing her observations on her scroll.

“There’s more… but a few of our friends would be considered troublemakers by your standards, Princess.”

“How so?”

Nicko sighed, taking out his cell phone and began to look for an Audio recording he caught of Amy when she didn’t realize it. “Let me warn you, things might get a little out of hand. This was basically her version of infiltrating the Changeling hive.”

He then clicked Play.

“Excuse me Ma’am, but we can’t let you pass.”

“Aww crap. Well this sucks. And just when we got this bus filled with foreign exchange students here for a field trip.”

“Oh really? Where are you from?”

“TEXAS!!!”

The last comment was followed by the sounds of Amy and her sister mowing down a battalion of Changelings, one bug at a time. “Yes, my friend Amy can be quite… Random, if I do say so myself.”

“Really? I don’t see it.” Landon said.

Nicko sighed… “Exhibit B. When an Assassin tried to claim the life of Princess Cadence.”

Play

“Now if you don’t mind, I’M GOING AFTER THAT CADENCE B*TCH!!” The audio continues to hear the clicking of multiple weapons as soon as the Assassin opens the door.

“Well, that’s just not fair at all…”

“I’m sorry, but…” Amy retorted. “We DON’T GIVE A F*CK!!!”

*BANG!!!* *BANG!!!* *BANG!!!* *BANG!!!* *BANG!!!*

With that, Nicko shut off his phone. “I think that’s all the necessary proof I need to show, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I’ll say.” Naomi chuckles.

“Yep. It’s gotten to the point where she does some things just to drive Celestia crazy… I mean, our Celestia, not you your highness.”

“It’s alright. It seems as we now have a better understanding of the situation. For now though, we should keep this meeting between ourselves. I don’t want to cause a panic with the public if word gets out about this.” The Princess said as Nicko assured her of his compliance, the Alicorn retreating to her quarters.

“Well, we should prepare to go as well.” The Rune Slayer. “But before we do… Naomi, Landon, we have something for you.”

“Hm?” Naomi replied.

With that, Nicko handed his token to Naomi and Faith did the same. “These are our tokens. You can use them to either come to us or call upon us when you need our help.” In her paw, the Wolf now held Nicko’s Mark of the Rune Slayer and Faith’s Nemesis Blade.

“Huh. Cool. Thanks.”

“Your welcome. Can’t wait to see you again soon.” Nicko replied as he conjured a portal using his copy of his token. Before leaving though, Faith turned to Landon. “Bye Lanny!!!”

“Bye.” Landon deadpanned.

Naomi rolled her eyes before waving a subtle goodbye with a paw as both Nicko and Faith faded away with the portal they created.

Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s World)

When Nicko and Faith returned home, The Rune Slayer told his Niece that we was going for a walk and will be right back before breakfast. As he was walking, he followed one of the paths that went through the forest. It was calm in the morning, but something made things seem… too calm.

When the Adventurer went to a clearing, he saw what appeared to be a travelers cart and an empty campsite with a recently put out firepit. Nicko went closer, inspecting the ashes until he came across something. Something that looked like…

Fox fur.

Then, the shadow behind Nicko got bigger as he barely dodged the spear that almost pierced his heart. Looking at his attacker, his jaw dropped.

“J-Jade!?!”

“W-who are you? How do you know my name!?!”

End Log 7

Log 8- Rage of an Asura

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Rage of an Asura

Log 2- Meeting both Neltharion and Pegasus today really had me think about the possibilities involving the multiple versions of different individuals that I’ve met from different worlds. But, out of all the things I’ve seen and the people I have met, my most major concern right now is Yuri’s sister, Jade. According to her, Jade had not been seen since her encounter with Lord Tirek seven years ago. Which begs the question… why that long? Normally, for someone like Jade, who is a sister and also obsessed over Amy, I would think that she would be trying to find her way back as soon as possible. But, what if something occurred to where she is not who she was before. Like if someone pushed a reset button on her memories. I don’t know if it’s just me or that I’m getting really tired just thinking about it. Maybe I’ll find out the answers I’m looking for in the Morning

-Nicko Nocte, The Rune Slayer

Everfree Forest clearing (Present Day)

“W-who are you? How do you know my name!?!”

The question itself startled the Rune Slayer as he had to draw his sword quickly to counter the attacks that came at him in quick succession. From what Nicko remembered, the Little Specter and Asura classes in Elsword were known for two things. Quick fast paced attacks with their spears and also using a set of Phantom claws to go along with the newfound exorcism abilities and fox like reflexes. Nicko had to rely on all his skills in combat for him to be able to not get stabbed by the incoming flurry of attacks.

“Don’t you remember me? It’s Nicko!!”

“I don’t know anypony by that name!! Now get lost!!!”

With a surge of energy that flowed around her, Jade created nine beads of Fox Fire that went towards the Rune Slayer shortly after she struck him with her phantom claws. Nicko though, was quick enough to use his reflexes to dodge the beads as he skidded back a little. Next, he dashed forth and got behind Jade, only to be blocked at the last second by her spear.

“What the-!?”

“Nice try!! Spell: Aerial Blades!!!”

The Golden Spiral of Astral swords caught the Rune Slayer off guard, scarring him across the lower right cheek and knocking him backwards. This Jade was not the one he remembered. In fact, she couldn’t remember him for Celestia’s sake!! It wasn’t until he realized it though that Jade had used her speed to get right in front of him. “Oh sh*t!!”

“Got you!!”

Now Jade continued her assault from before, but the Asura’s tactics had changed. As she attacked in a furious blitz, what her opponent didn’t realize was that she was using the “Exorcism Stance” and that she pulled off the Secret Art: Night Parade of One Hundred Souls. By the time he caught on to what she was doing, it was already too late as she teleported behind him and struck her spear into the ground, creating an eruption of souls from underneath the Rune Slayer’s feet. Nicko himself howled in pain as the attack hit him hard. By the time he was struggling to get up though, Jade was standing on her own two feet, looking at the warrior with a grin on her face.

“Now I’ll ask you again little boy, how do you know my name?” Jade asked as she pointed her spear at Nicko. The Rune Slayer himself, struggled to get up as he tried to speak. But soon, a new voice could be heard. But this time, it was coming from the wagon that was nearby the two of them.

“Okay, what the buck is going on-?”

The new individual was a Unicorn mare. Azure fur color with a lightish blue Mane and lavender eyes. She wore a few magus robes to keep herself warm as she stepped outside. “Jade!! What is the meaning of all this!?”

“I just wanted to know who this boy was, and how he knew my name.”

“That doesn’t mean you ATTACK HIM!!! You can’t get any answers from him if he’s dead!!”

“I wasn’t going to kill him, just knock him out and take him with me for questioning.”

The Mare sighed, helping Nicko up. “So, boy… Who are you?”

“Nicko. Nicko Nocte. Thanks again Miss……”

“Trixie.” The mare replied. “Trixie Lulamoon.”

“Tsh, I don’t see why you have to tell that little boy your name.”

“It’s called courtesy, Jade.” Trixie told her. “Now, like you said, Trixie would like to know the same thing you want to know about how do you know the name of Trixie’s friend.”

“That’s because I knew her before Tirek tried to attack Ponyville. She was a Little Specter and had friends. Jade knew me, my brother Anson, my Friend Leo, Amy, Molly, Jane and most importantly, her own freaking sister.”

Jade’s ears twitched at that last comment. “I… have a sister?”

The Rune Slayer nodded. “You and her were in the Golden Oaks library when the Centaur attacked in order to preemptively strike Twilight Sparkle. But now, it has been seven years and she is worried sick about you Jade. Yuri is worried about you.”

“............” Jade didn’t say anything, but seconds later, she dropped to her knees and grabbed hold of her head like she was in the middle of a freakout. Nicko now became worried. Her energy got stronger, but he felt the anger that was mixed in it and that was taking control of her. She then let out a loud pitched scream as her ribbons became white tails and her hair turned the same color. Markings on her cheeks began to surface and her eyes narrows. She even now had fox ears too.

She was in her Celestial Fox form. But, something was different about this. “S-SHUT UP!!!!”

“J-jade? What’s wrong?”

“G-GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!! RRRAAAGGGGHHH!!!!!!”

The situation had just escalated from bad to worse. Something just now triggered Jade to lose control in an all out rage. When she looked at both of them again, she leaped towards Trixie, her hands outstretched like claws. Nicko moved in between to block the attack and was lucky to intervene just in time.

“Jade? Can you hear me?! Stop this!!!”

Words could not work anymore. The girl was flowing with power and her strength was filled with Rage and Hatred. Thinking quickly, Nicko turned towards Trixie. “Do you have any Idea what’s going on?”

“Me?! Trixie just found her unconscious in the forest seven years ago with no memories at all. All she remembered was her name and how to fight-.”

The Unicorn went on in a small rant, but the Rune Slayer had stopped listening. When he heard “No Memories”, he began to think about what could be the possible cause of the problem. When Nicko said her sisters name, memories tried to return to the Asura. But due to her strong spirit and willpower, she was trying to fight back against them because of the possibility of some of those memories being from her encounter with Eric and Lord Tirek. Turning towards the Unicorn, an idea came inside his head. “Trixie, right?”

“That is Trixie’s name-.”

“Do you know any spells that can cure memory loss?”

“M-maybe… I would need to look inside my carriage.”

“Find something and quick. We need to use it on Jade. I can’t explain everything right now, but I’m telling you, we need it. I’ll buy you some time.”

The Unicorn didn’t object. Instead, she complied and teleported herself into her mobile home. A safe place to avoid the oncoming conflict. Nicko himself, knew that for this, he had to go all out on his power. Therefore, he tried something that the Rune Slayer had not previously attempted before. In Elsword, Awakening beads allowed the player to go into a state of power that varied depending on the character. Jade’s Celestial Fox form was her awakening. His, on the other hand, was different.

Holding his sword with two hands above his head, he took a stance and then felt the energy flow through him. It was an orangish red and made the Warrior think that he had performed the Kaioken technique from Dragon Ball Z. Except without the backlash when it wore off. In addition, he casted another skill called Critical Sword, a move that allowed Nicko to increase his attack power for a short amount of time.

Because right now, time was of the essence.

Jade went forth with the first attack, trying to string her opponent into a series of Secret Art attacks with the “Phantom Fox” Stance called Pulverization. It was a combination of attacks that focused on cunning reflexes and precise strikes in order to drain the opponent of their spiritual energy. The only problem for Jade though was that Nicko’s awakening did more than make him stronger, but also made him faster. Fast enough to perform a counter attack moments after Jade attempted her first strike, setting the Asura off balance. Despite the massive amount of power she had obtained, Jade was sloppy in form and execution. Her opponent planned to use that to his advantage and expose it.

While she tried to rebalance herself, Nicko swung low and placed his hand on the ground. When the Asura placed her foot back on the ground, the Ice Rune that the Rune Slayer had placed went off and trapped her leg in ice. He followed up with another rune that detonated in front of him, hitting Jade with an explosive backlash. But, it also broke her free of his Ice Trap, allowing her to begin her counter attack. Starting with Savor, Jade quickly followed up with the second stance; Discordance. On the third stance; Rapid Rain, her attacks still went at the Rune Slayer as she tried to finish up with the fourth stance. Fox’s Meal.

However, the one thing that the Asura never paid attention too was that Nicko’s Way of the Sword special ability had just kicked in. The warrior glowed a crimson aura as Jade’s attacks backfired and caused her to stagger. Nicko used this opportunity to drain Jade of her mana using Luna Blade, a skill that produced a lot of damage and could drain about a quarter of the targets mana. Nicko knew that with Jade, she would expend a lot of Mana in her Stances. If she had no gas in the tank, then the Asura could not use most of her techniques.

Around now though, was when Nicko could hear something faintly. It sounded like… a voice. Not Jade’s… but another voice. “C-child…… can you hear my voice?”

Nicko cocked an eyebrow. “Y-yeah? Who are you?”

“I’m the guardian inside Jade.”

Around now, the Rune Slayer can clearly see who was trying to talk to him. It was a multi tailed being with the appearance of a fox. It looked at Nicko with a serious expression.

“I am Eun. My spirit has been inside Jade since she has came to this world. Her emotions and haunting memories of when she was defeated by Tirek are starting to return to her, but her Will is preventing this from happening and no spell could fix this. In this state, my power is being used by her, but she has lost control. There’s only way for her to return to normal and for her to remember who she is.”

“W-what is it? What do I need to do?” Nicko asked.

“There is an item inside her friends carriage that represents the pact between her and I. You need to place it on her heart in order for both of us to become one.” The Fox told him. Turning around, Nicko looked at the carriage. Seeing that Jade was still struggling to her feet, the swordsman took the chance to run over there and barge in. Nicko’s surprise entrance startled Trixie, who was rummaging through her books. when the Rune Slayer came in.

“N-nicko!! I’m trying my best to find some kind of spell-.”

“We don’t need a spell to fix this. Tell me, did Jade keep any personal trinkets or anything in here?”

“Well, there’s the talisman on the nightstand but-.”

The Rune Slayer ignored the rest of what the Unicorn had to say as his eyes looked upon the item and grabbed it. He needed to hurry if what Eun said was true.

Eun saw the boy as he held the Talisman. But Jade’s out of control form was charging towards him as her claws raked into his shoulders. Ignoring the pain though and the stinging sensation of his life being drained away, Nicko shoved the trinket into Jade like he was trying to stab someone with a knife. The Asura’s Pact began to work immediately as the young girl was consumed in a golden light and the Rune Slayer saw the spirit of the Fox and the soul of Jade become one. The light around them danced as Trixie soon came out when everything died down. Now, Jade laid in the snow covered ground and was beginning to open her eyes.

“Urgh…… W-where am I?” The confused girl asked as she looked upward and saw snow falling. “A-am I… Dead?”

“J-jade?”

“T-trixie?” The Asura asked, responding to her voice. Turning her head, her eyes widened at the sight. “N-nicko!? B-but I thought-!!”

“Easy there... You’ve been through a lot, little fox.” Nicko told her. “Eun is helping restore your memories. That way, you can be back to normal again. Trixie has helped you over the years, but Yuri misses you Jade. I think it’s time we bring you back home.”

With that, Nicko put the tired Jade on his back as he picked her up. “You can come along too, Trixie. Plus, I think it would be better them staying in that cold carriage of yours.”

“You…… bring up a very good point. Trixie thanks you for helping her. She’s been my only friend for years and Trixie can’t express how grateful she is for your help just now.” With that, the mare returned to her carriage and packed a bag that contained most of her things, including clothes, spellbooks, flasks and other daily essentials that the wandering wizard may need in a pinch. When the two of them were ready, they began to make their stride back to Ponyville. On the way though, Trixie had some questions.

“Hmm…… Nicko correct?”

“Yes? What is it, Trixie?”

“Jade seemed surprise to see you. Why is that?”

“Well, it’s kind of a long story… Come on, let’s get to Twilight’s Castle and-.”

“Hold it… You’re a friend of Sparkle!?”

“Yes,” Nicko replied as the two of them stopped walking. “Is something wrong?”

“No… It’s just that…… we have a bit of a history.”

Castle of Friendship (Ten Minutes later…)

By the time Nicko and Trixie made it back, Faith was back in her room and possibly resting from her cuddly adventures with Amaterasu and Chibiterasu. Besides that, Yuri was sleeping in and there was a note left on the table for them from the Princess; telling them that she and Spike were with the girls on a visit to “Our Town”, a small town to the south of Ponyville. But right now, both the Mare and the human were focused on helping attend to Jade. It was almost like a repeat of the incident yesterday with Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon. Just this time, Jade was in their position instead of them.

Nicko himself casted a Fire Rune in the fireplace after placing some new wooden logs inside so the warmth of the flames could help the Asura while Trixie placed a blanket on her. While they were focused on helping Jade, Trixie told Nicko of her “history” with Twilight from what happened the last two times she was in Ponyville. When she was done explaining everything, the Rune slayer could see guilt and regret in the Unicorn’s eyes as she told her that for the past seven years, Jade was the only friend she had that helped her as she traveled across Equestria. Helping others in need despite her old reputation sometimes catching up with her.

“So… About earlier… why did Jade seem shocked to see you?” Trixie asked.

“Well… Did you hear about a fight with a Diabolic Esper seven years ago?”

“Yes, Trixie has heard of that story… It was said that two brothers clashed with him and one was encased in stone in order to protect his brother… How does this relate to you though?”

“That’s the thing. I was the brother that was encased in stone. I was freed recently because my Brothers Daughter found her way here and freed me. Now not only am I here with my friends, but also my niece is with me. She’s in her room right now, possibly resting.”

Nothing right now could hold in Trixies shock and awe. “Wait… you are… the Rune Slayer?”

Nicko nodded his head, answering her question. What he did not expect though was for Trixie to be acting like a school filly when they met their idol or role model. The spellcaster had so many questions for Nicko on his magic that it was hard to explain to her that only he was able to control this kind of power. During this session though, Jade was slowly beginning to come back to her senses.

“Ugh… W-where am I?”

“Easy there, Jade. You’ve been through a lot and still need to recover.” Nicko told her as he tried to help position herself as she leaned forward.

“What the hell happen to me?”

“You’ve had been knocked out cold and wandering around Equestria with Trixie for seven years. I made sure that Eun returned to you so your memories could be fully restored.”

“.........You should’ve left me like that.”

“Hey, don’t say that… Yuri and everyone else has been worried about you. Your sister has been wanting to make sure that you were okay.” The Rune Slayer told her. “Plus, it would be great for you to meet Faith.”

“F-faith? Who’s that?” The Asura asked. Before Nicko could say anything, he turned to see the young girl at the door.

“You called me, Uncle?”

Jade stared at her, dumbfounded. “Did I hear that right?”

“Yea, you did. She’s my niece and Anson’s Daughter.”

“Wow…… and I honestly didn’t think that he would be up for parenthood.” The Asura chuckled as she tried her best to straighten herself up. Nicko himself didn’t know if he should take offense to that or if he should take it as a compliment. “But in all seriousness, you should’ve just left me like that.”

“And let you die? Hell no.” Nicko shook his head. “I don’t care what stuff you have been through, but that’s in the past now. Leave that behind you now.”

“Easy for you to say, you didn’t try to hunt down a 12 year old and use her as your thing to “play” with.”

“Watch your mouth, foxy…” Nicko hollered, offended about what Jade was saying because he thought she was trying to talk about Faith. A few seconds later, a new face entered the room, who’s eyes widened upon seeing Jade. It was Yuri.

“S-sister?”

“Yuri?” For a moment, there was an awkward silence when the sisters looked at each other. That moment ended when Jade tried to run away from her. But, Trixie stopped her by using her Telekinetic Grip to shut the door to the room.

“Thanks, Trixie.”

The Unicorn just nodded. She knew this lesson and had been through it before. Some things you can’t always run away from. Family was one of those things. Yuri slowly walked up to Jade, who seemed tense. But she was then caught off guard when the Sakra Devanam hugged her with tears rolling down her face.

“My god, you’re alive!! I was so worried about you!!!”

“......Then maybe I should of been dead.”

“H-how could you say that?! You have had me, Jane and everyone else worried for seven years!! Hell, even AMY was worried about you because she thought things were the same without you being here. I care for you sis and I am NOT tolerating that kind of attitude with you.”

“But…..all the stuff I did to her when she was a child, and to you….I don’t deserve to live for after what I did.”

“We all make mistakes, Jade.” The two sisters now heard Faith as she sat down. “People can be forgiven for the mistakes we make though. That’s why we’re human. Sure, we make dumb decisions, but the thing that sets us apart is that we can forgive each other and strive to do better.”

“..........but what if they don’t forgive me?”

“They will. Sometimes, it takes longer than others. But if you think positively, great things can happen. Heck, I thought that I wasn’t able to find anything on my own to help my own father be happy again. Then, I freed Uncle Nicko from being in Stone. If you just believe and work hard, good things will happen.” The Young Code Nemesis was beaming with positivity, trying her best to help the Asura improve her emotional state. Even Nicko thought that she had learned a lot from when she was in her father’s care before coming here. And that to him, was impressive.

“Forgive me for raining on your parade, but unless they are willing to give me a second chance, then I’ll believe you. But if not, then I’ll be leaving with Ms. Lulamoon.”

“Actually…” Nicko interjected. “I was thinking that since I had some leftover bits, maybe you two can purchase a house so you can stay in Ponyville. Also, I’m willing to give you a second chance as well as the girls I believe. I do hear them outside the door.”

“DAMN IT NICKO!!!”

“Amy, calm down-.”

“CALM DOWN!! HE JUST KNEW WHERE WE WERE!! WHAT DOES HE HAVE, SPIDER SENSE!?!”

“Nope, Eris told me.” The Rune Slayer chuckled as he opened the door. “You can just knock by the way… Come on in.”

“&#$% you jerk I can do whatever I want.” Amy said as she open the door. “Now care to tell me what the hell’s going on?”

“I found Jade and she’s hoping you were willing to give her a second chance. She thought that she deserved to be dead.”

“I am willing to help-.”

“MOLLY!?!”

“What? She’s like family. I obviously would give her a second chance, sis.”

“You can’t be serious? After all the hell she put me through-.”

“She’s been through Seven years of hell.” Molly said to her sister. “The least we could do is help her. Besides, she seems to have changed over time. Look at her. She’s an Asura now.”

“Just because she changed doesn’t mean she’s still the same crazy girl that tried to make me her-!”

SMACK!!!

The hand that went across Amy’s face from her sister sent the Crimson Avenger into the Wall. The Mastermind herself looked at Amy with a face that would say “This sh*t ends or I will end you”. “First off, you’re not one to judge because you had been in the same god damn situation multiple times before and look how the majority of those turned out to be. Second, Jade here is like Discord. Reformed and a different kind of person. It’ll take time to get use to, but it’ll all work out in the end. Lastly, Don’t even get me started on the people you’ve brought here to ponyville and that you let stay with Rainbow and Scootaloo. Including Kat and… dare I say it… Umbra.”

“Hey Umbra’s different! Her father screwed her over and left her for dead. Hell no pony ever heard of her.”

“Still, my point is, they were one way before meeting you and look at them now. Jade is no exception. Just give her the benefit of the doubt, sis.”

“Tsh…..Fine I’ll give her a chance, but if anything gets broken or if someponys home gets vandalize and they blame you for it.” Amy pointed at Jade. “X is going to equal my foot up your ass.” Jade in return smiled and jumped onto Amy

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!”

“Hey get off of me, you idiot!! You’re gonna mess up Selena’s cloak.” Before she could finish her sentence, the spell that Selena put on Amy a few minutes ago vanish. revealing a pony version of Amy. “Spell…..&#$#.”

“What the f-!?” Was Nicko’s first reaction. Faith’s though, was her immediately hugging her and getting behind her.

“Uncle Nicko, look!! Amy’s giving me a Ponyback ride!!”

“I am not!!!”

“I told you she was a pony. Nicko, now pay up loser.”

“We were never betting money, Molly. Matter of fact, we weren’t betting at all.”

“Still I told you Amy’s 50% pony.”

“WHEEE!!!” Both Nicko and Molly turned to see Faith still on Amy as she was having a good time running around the great hall. “This is just as much fun as being with Chibi!!!”

“I AM NOT A PET!!!”

“Well to her you are, and this wouldn’t have happen if you didn’t go into the mirror world while Selena was still inside you at the time.”

Nicko sighed as he took off and hung up his coat and sword. “So… Let me get this straight. This is a… side effect of Amy’s eagerness for wanting to screw over Celestia?”

“Hey screw you shorty!”

“Watch it, Ponygirl!!”

Faith herself was still having fun as it went from a Ponyback ride to playing tag with Amy chasing her. When Twilight and the others came back, they found the two of them running through the halls like it was Sylvester chasing Tweety Bird in the old Looney Tunes cartoons.

“Okay, what the hay is going on!?!”

“Oh the usual stuff, Amy’s chasing after somepony for humiliating her.” Said Molly. “Oh and Jade is back.”

This caught everypony’s attention. Especially Pinkies. “THIS CALLS FOR A WELCOME HOME AFTER SEVEN YEARS PARTY!!!” She hollered as she zipped out of the Castle to grab her party supplies.

“GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!” Yelled Amy chasing after Faith. “THE ONLY PONY THAT RIDES ME IS RAINBOW DASH IF I ALLOW HER!!!”

Faith herself had enough with the chase and this time, wanted to make sure she shut the Crimson Avenger up. Pivoting around. She pointed out her arms in front of her, preparing something big. “Either we end this chase now and calm down… or I will have to use my biggest skill to make you knock it off.”

Nicko could see where this was possibly going. But was surprised that she would try something to-. No… She wasn’t thinking of that skill, was she!?

“Now, now let’s not do anything stupid.” Said Jane walking in between the two girls. “Now I know Amy wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, but you did ride on her without permission am I right?”

“As a joke. Not to hurt her or have her go crazy…” Faith replied… “Hey, you look familiar. Aren’t you that friend that always came to visit with Grandma Ciela sometimes?”

“Yep, Jane Anderson.”

“Wow… So that means…… You’re my godmother?”

“...........Ciela, you little B*tch.”

“What? Dad told me that he got permission from you to have that be my name, so that makes you my godmother…”

Now that, hit Nicko like a freight train. And just when he was recovering from the surprise of finding Jade earlier this morning. “Okay, is there any other family relations that we need to get out of the way before Pinkie is done preparing?”

“Hey Amy, I kinda broke Twilight’s door if she asked tell her Blueblood did it.” Said Rainbow Dash, entering the room.

“That’s almost a daily occurrence.”

“O...kay, and I now feel like my head just exploded.” Nicko muttered as he walked into the throne room, where Pinkie had everything from Food to drinks and everything else in between. As the party went on though, Molly had found something strange in her room. Almost a medium sized model of a human brain.

“Hey Amy, did you leave this in my room?”

“No why?”

“Well, I found this in there and it wasn’t there yesterday, so I thought I would ask you about it before I ask Yuri.” Before she even got the chance too, it began to glow and blind everyone in the vicinity. Seconds later, A teenaged boy in a hood was standing in the room, looking at everyone before looking at the Sisters and Nicko, who was nearby.

“......... Sup?”

“Well…… you don’t see that everyday.” Said Applejack.

Nicko himself, felt like he recognized him though. And not just by the costume. But like he heard the voice before. From his early years at the Orphanage. “Wait…… Max?”

“Never thought I see you again, little Nicky.”

Instead of getting mad, Nicko patted him on the back and gave him what some would consider as a Brohug. Max was one of the first few friends that Nicko and Anson had when they were little. He was always very imaginative and always coming up with ideas on things they could do for fun. “Holy Sh*t!! Man, I’m surprised to see you!!”

“I’m surprised you’re still alive after hearing you went missing a few years ago. Then again when Amy told me you been stoned, I just had to mess around with you…… I mean help you… yes let’s go with that.”

Nicko turned around to see Faith walk up to him and also Jane, who was surprised to see that her Son was standing right in front of her. Nicko explained to Max about Faith and how she was his Niece, but let Jane speak for herself on seeing her son.

“Hello son, what brings you here?”

“M-mother? I thought you were… gone.”

“Back from the dead, b*tches!”

“.....Still the same even before you died.”

Everyone else in the room was flat out confused, so Jane and Nicko used the moment to explain everything. Gremmy, or as they knew him, was Max Anderson. Brother of Amy and Molly Anderson. It took some time to get reacquainted with everyone, but soon, the Visionary was glad to be seeing everyone again and enjoy everyone’s company.

One little voice though, caught his attention. “Hey, Gremmy. Would it kill you to warn me before you get summoned-?”

“Sorry Lotus. It happens.”

“Lotus?” Amy asked. “You didn’t happen to shrink the Spa Pony now, did you?”

“No, it’s my Breezie friend that I met a few years ago.”

“Yeah, we make the perfect team!!”

“Even though I do most of the work.”

“SHUT UP, GREMMY!!”

Time passed and it was soon around Ten o’clock when Nicko decided to return to his room to check on his things. But something seemed… off. He found a painting in the wall that looked like the bottom of a lake. But the painting had a hook going through it.

‘Sup, Little Nicky?’

“Eris, only Max calls me that.”

‘Well, excuse me… Prince. I was just trying to make the mood seem… Enjoyable.’

“Right…”

“Oh I see you have a genderbent version of Discord inside your head.”

Nicko turned around to see Max standing right behind him. “Dear god, you startled me! Just what the hell did you do, read my mind?”

“Pretty much. I imagine myself doing it.”

“Right… Well, Eris is actually Discord’s daughter. She’s been helping me a lot and were like Companions.” Nicko said as he turned towards the painting. “Now, any ideas on how that hook could’ve gotten in that painting Max?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nicko looked at Max oddly as he tried to point out the strange painting and the hook going through it. “I’m talking about this. Found it in here a few minutes ago.”

“Oh that…..Lotus wanted me to do that.”

“Let me guess, Sarcasm?” The Rune Slayer asked as he tried to get on top of a couch in order to get closer.

“More like it would look funny.” Said Lotus.

Nicko chuckled a little. But coming upon the painting, he began to feel the surface being semi solid. Like a doorway or one of those paintings that represented the Levels in Super Mario 64. “Well, that’s interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

“This painting is Semi-solid. Almost like a doorway to somewhere. Like on one of those old Nintendo 64 games.”

“Like Super Mario? Honestly, I never thought of it like that.”

“I’m going to check it out.” The Rune Slayer told his friend. “Mind staying here so if any of the girls asks where I am, you can tell them?” The Visionary nodded, envisioning a leather recliner seat and kicking back as Nicko slowly made his way through. Something told him though that this was going to be one hell of a story for some people as soon as he found out what was on the other side. Still, one question remained as he and Eris went through.

Why did they feel like they were underwater?

End Log 8

Log 9- Hunter X Rune Slayer

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Hunter X Rune Slayer

Perspective: Gon

Fluttershy and I were heading to a pond just outside the outskirts of Ponyville. The morning was nice and beautiful, and Fluttershy had suggested that I should go fishing for breakfast, because she thought that getting meat for me was vitally important.

I really was starting to like Fluttershy, she was so kind and generous, and that was something hard to find back in my world. The walk to the pond was quite and we didn’t really talk to eachother. We just enjoyed the scenery, and the chirping of the morning birds. After a couple of more minutes of walking in peace, we came across the pond Fluttershy had told me about.

The yellow Pegasus spoke up. “This is it.” She then pointed her right hoof at the pond. The pond looked lovely, with ducks and swans swimming in it, comfortable looking sandy banks, and beautiful flowers surrounding the pond.

I responded to her with awe over the sight of the pond. “It looks beautiful. I can’t wait to start fishing.” She smiled at me, and we then proceeded to find a place to rest, and then I casted my fishing line into the pond. It was relaxing, just peace and quiet as we waited to get a bite. I never really fished in my world, but right now I am wishing I did, because It is so relaxing and enjoyable.

It was about ten minutes before Fluttershy spoke up. “It doesn’t look like their biting, does it?”

“No, not really. Though it is relaxing just sitting here.” She nodded in agreement. It was about another ten minutes before I notice my bobber go under the water. I then felt a tug at my fishing rod, and I knew then that I had a bite. I knew that in this new body of mine, that I had increased strength. How much, I do not know. All I know is that I pulled with all my strength to get the fish. What came out though was something completely different from what I was expecting.

It was another human, he had red hair, Dark red coat, black pants and undershirt with a sword at his side. “What the! Is that another human?” is all I could mutter out as he was sent into the air by the force of my pull on my fishing pole. He soared through the sky, until he hit a tree about fifteen feet behind us. Fluttershy let out a gasp, and I heard him groan in pain as he slid from the tree, down to the ground.. “We better go help him out.” I said to Fluttershy before I went running over to the mysterious man. Fluttershy soon followed behind me.

When we got there, we were greeted by the groans of pain from the poor guy. “Are you alright mister?” the yellow Pegasus said to the red haired man.

Five minutes earlier…

Moments after going through a mysterious semi-solid painting that had a hook piercing through it, Nicko found himself at the bottom of a lake. Of course, the painting showed fish, algae, and what not; but he honestly thought that he would end up on a sandy beach, not physically in a body of water. Eris thought the same thing as well.

But before they could assess their current situation or before Eris could even cast a spell to allow them to breath underwater, something snagged at Nicko’s coat. Something strong enough to start pulling him upward at a faster pace.

‘Aww crap-!!”

Violently, the Rune Slayer was yanked to the surface and sent flying, only for him to collide in a tree a few seconds later. Just his luck…

“Oww… Son of a taint, that hurt.” Nicko moaned a little as he heard the sound of hooves and feet coming towards-. Wait… Feet?

“Are you alright, Mister?”

The voice was familiar to Nicko. In fact, it was a lot like Fluttershy’s. Turning around, the Rune Slayer was surprised to see that it was her…Well, this world's version of her. She wasn’t Anthropomorphic like the pegasus he knew and was on all four hooves like an actual Pony… which was quite small for someone his height. Motioning up and turning around, he looked at both the Pony and the human next to him… That was holding the fishing pole that had his coat on it.

“Y-yeah… Just… Can I have my coat back please? It’s on the end of your fishing line.”

Gon went over to the Rune Slayer, and unhooked the line from Nicko’s coat. “Sorry about that, I didn’t know any humans would be in the pond.”

Now that caught Nicko’s attention immediately. It was just his luck. First there was Bryce, then there was Amaterasu and Chibiterasu and now; this kid was meeting a Displaced for the first time. Three in a row… If this were a game of bowling, he would’ve gotten three strikes or what he would call a Turkey.

“It’s alright. Mistakes happen. Honestly, I didn’t think I would be fished out of the water like that. I’m Nicko. What’s your name?” He asked the boy, calmly since he could tell that he was young.

The boy smiled happily and replied to the Rune Slayer. “My names Gon Freecss, and.” he looked over at Fluttershy. “This here is my friend Fluttershy.”

“Nice to meet the two of you. I’m sorry if I caused you guys any trouble. It’s unintentional, really.”

The yellow Pegasus quickly spoke up. “Oh, don’t worry. It’s no problem at all.” She smiled at Nicko.

“That’s good to hear.” Nicko sighed, relieved while he scratched the back of his head. “That isn’t the first time that something awkward has happened like that on my travels.”

Gon said excitedly. “Travels? Oh please tell me where you're going, and where you have been.”

“Well, it’s not quite that simple to explain-.”

“I can handle it, just please tell me.” Gon’s eyes seemed to be beaming with excitement

“Are you sure? It might not be so easy to explain to someone as young as you-.”

Gon now went up to the Rune Slayer, and raised his voice a little. “It doesn’t matter my age, I can take it. Now please. I want to hear about it so bad.” Fluttershy just stood quiet on the sidelines.

Nicko sighed to himself. “Okay… but you may get confused. After all, I don’t exactly travel to different continents or countries.”

“What do you mean?” Gon tilted his head in question.

“I’m a Dimensionally Misplaced. Or Displaced for short. Which means I travel to other Dimensions. Other versions of Equestria.”

You could hear Fluttershy’s quiet gasp before Gon spoke up again. “Wait… Since I’m originally from Earth…” Gon put two and two together in his head. “Then that means I’m this Displaced thing you’re talking about! And...You’re also from Earth. Oh my God I’m not alone!” Gon went up to Nicko and gave him a huge hug.

“Wow… You catch on quickly.” was the Rune Slayer’s only response as he returned Gon’s hug with one of his own.

After moment Gon finally released his hug around Nicko. “Do you happen to know how to get back to Earth?”

Nicko shook his head. “Unfortunately I don’t. Back where I am, my Twilight Sparkle is trying to figure that out. My personal story about my travels though is quite a long story… Give or take the seven years I got imprisoned in Stone to protect my brother against a psycho maniac hellbent on destruction.”

Gon sighed in disappointment. “Well, it was worth a shot. I asked about returning home, because I left my brother behind after this strange Merchant gave me this fishing pole.” Gon held out his fishing pole. “It’s from the anime Hunter X Hunter, and it’s what I needed to make my cosplay perfect. Unfortunately it must have been enchanted or something, because I blacked out soon after. Now here I am.”

“Well, I don’t personally know anything about this merchant you’re referring to, but I know what you mean. Met a few others who told me the same thing. As for me, I’m a Rune Slayer. It’s a Job Class from the online game, Elsword. Even though my outfit isn’t exactly the same as the main outfit for the class, my other clothes would probably be too small anyways.” The Rune Slayer placed his sword in the ground to where the edge was piercing it as he put his coat back on.

“I never heard of Elsword before, but If I find a way back home I’ll give it a try.”

Nicko smiled a little. “That’s not the only thing that I brought though. Like you have Fluttershy, I have a companion as well.”

“Companion?” Gon tilted his head. “Who is your companion?”

“Well, mostly she’s my partner. Other times, Eris is just playful-.” Nicko stopped and facepalmed himself as he looked at Gon. While he was talking, the Draconequus took out a pink feather and used it to start tickling the boy by the ears.

Gon broke out in hysterical laughter, and fell to the ground with bits of tears forming at his eyes. “Make it stop… please?” He continued to laugh, and Fluttershy gasped at the creature who was tickling him.

“Don’t be alarmed. Despite being a Draconequus, Eris is a good person. She’s helped me out multiple times before and was willing to get turned to stone with me when I protected my brother. And it also seems like she likes you Gon.”

“Only because he reminds me of Chaotic.” Eris said, remembering her little brother. She was now tickling both Fluttershy and Gon by using the fluffy end of her tail to make the Pegasus squeal in laughter. Nicko himself sighed, watching in amusement as the Spirit was enjoying herself. Once she had enough fun though, she stopped.

It took a moment for Gon and Fluttershy to regain their bearings. Once they did Fluttershy was the first to speak. “Oh thank Goodness you’re not like Discord.” She shuddered from the thought.

Gon replied to Fluttershy. “Who is Discord?” He then turned to Eris. “And who is Chaotic?”

“Discord is the Spirit of Chaos. Where I’m from, he’s reformed and a family man. I’m his daughter and Chaotic is his son. He’s married to Celestia.”

Fluttershy Quickly responded. “Oh my Celestia, he is married to Celestia!” She then fainted on the spot.

Nicko just stared in shock as he looked at Eris. She had only reply to the situation.

“Um…… Oops?”

Gon was trying to suppress his laughter, the thought of someone who looked like Eris doing it with Celestia was too much for him to handle. He couldn’t hold in his laughter and began to let out hysterically the suppressed laughter. Nicko himself just sighed. He put his fingers by Fluttershy’s ear and with a snap, Fluttershy woke up and startled herself.

“Are you okay?”

She meeped silently, and that was her only response. She was still shocked over what she just heard. Gon waved a hand in front of the yellow Pegasus. “Are you okay Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy shook her head to recollect herself. “I’m fine, just a bit… Startled that’s all.”

“Trust me, it’s happened before. We’ve had to deal with other situations that are worse than just accidently making you pass out.” Eris said, making Gon tempted to hear more while Fluttershy was unsure. “What do you say, Nicko? We tell our friends here some stories?”

Gon jumped in excitement. “Oh yes, please tell us some stories. I love a good story.”

Fluttershy added on. “Well if Gon insists, I guess I’d like to hear as well.”

Nicko sighed. “Eris, which story did you exactly have in mind?”

“The Griffonia one.”

“You mean the one where we woke up the Griffon’s capital city, only to be interrogated by the guard, have us run for our lives and meet Ryu?”

“Yeah, that one!! It’s one of the classics!”

“Now I got to hear this!!” Gon basically shouted with a smirk.

Nicko sighed, recalling everything that occurred. The two of them ended up there because they were accidently summoned to bait the guards while a rebel assassin was trying to kill the king. However, despite fatally poisoning the Griffon king, another human was able to heal him. Turns out, that was the Elder Dragon named Ryu, who seeked out Nicko, helped clear his name, trained him and helped find the real culprit. From the Dragon, he learned how to cast his spells in different styles and methods. What one would refer to as Mastery over your skill or craft.

As Nicko was recalling his events, It got awkward because he wasn’t saying anything. “Are you gonna tell the story or what?” Asked Gon concerned over his silence. Upon realizing this, Nicko began to speak verbally and tell them what happened. He thought that Fluttershy would freak a little given that Ryu; his teacher, was actually a dragon. But she seemed to just be a bit surprised rather than scared. Gon himself though was enjoying Nicko’s story and the young boy found it quite… entertaining to say the least. Especially when Nicko conjured a sphere of magic to Demonstrate his runic magic.

This though, now had Nicko thinking a bit. “Hey Gon… I was wondering something… do you have any abilities that can help you fight?”

“Well, yeah…… I think.” The boy told him. “Gon only gains powerful combat based abilities after unlocking his Nen.”

“Nen? Is it like Magic?” Eris asked, a little interested in what the boy would say.

“Not quite. From what I remember, Nen is a technique where it allows a living being to manipulate their own life energy into a form of Aura to use in survival.” Gon explained to both of them. “But my character only gains this after opening up their Aura nodes, a series of internal parts along the body. I honestly don’t know if they’re open or not to tell you the truth.”

“Hmm……” Eris scratched her chin as she looked at the boy. Going towards him, she floated behind him and put her talon on his back. “Gon, can you relax a little? I’m trying to figure something out.”

Gon didn’t have the chance to ask what she meant as she placed her talon along his shoulderblades. He felt a surge of energy go through him, making the hairs along his neck stand on end as he felt it. The boy now felt… different. Like he could do things he previously wasn’t able to do. Somehow, Eris must’ve done the Initiation method and forced open his Aura nodes.

“There… how do you feel?”

“I feel strange… but at the same time, I feel like I could take on the world!” Gon raised his hand to his field of vision, and noticed that there was energy flowing around it. Gon then smiled widely. “Oh this is to cool.” Fluttershy only stared at Gon with a questioning face.

She said to him. “What’s so cool? You look the same as before.” Fluttershy was unable to see the energy around Gon, because she had no sense of Nen in any form.

Gon replied to her. “Well, lets just say that I may have gotten an upgrade.”

Nicko smiled, seeing the energy from Gon. “Well, seems like Eris was able to unlock your talents. Now… We need to practice them. Fluttershy, do you know where there are any open fields we can go too?”

Fluttershy replied to Nicko’s question. “There is one just outside of ponyville, Gon should remember. It is where he ran away from the ponies who wanted Twilight’s doll.”

“Oh boy…” Eris said. “Lesson number zero. A day that will live in infamy… for her at least.”Would you kindly lead the way?” Fluttershy nodded and the group followed behind her.

After a couple of minutes they arrived at their destination and Fluttershy said. “Here we are.” Gon’s face cringed remembering his little fiasco with the ragged doll.

“Okay, before we continue, maybe you should give me a breakdown on how you can control your nen. Something tells me that it’s different than magic.” Soon though, Gon found something in his back pocket, which turned out to be a chart to help explain things a little better.

Looking over the scroll, Gon remembered everything that the show Hunter x Hunter had said about Nen. “Well to start , as you may know. Nen is the life energy of a person manifest into a way of defending oneself, or destroying another, depending on what you wish to do with your Nen. There are six Nen classes, Enhancer, who can increase their natural abilities. Transmuter, who can change the quality of their aura. Like for example, Gon’s best friend Killua from the show can change his Nen into electricity. Conjurer, who can materialize objects from their aura. Manipulator, who can control objects or living things. Emitter, who can shoot their aura like projectiles. Last but not least we go Specialist, they can use all other classes of Nen. In some cases Nen users can become specialists later in life, but it’s more likely to happen the closer you are on the Nen tree to the specialist Nen class.” Gon then handed the scroll over to the Rune Slayer.

Nicko was quite impressed with how this was explained. It reminded him of the different properties of magic and also the different properties that a spellcaster could use their magic for. Summoners could conjure weapons as well as summon elemental beings while Magi could create projectiles of elemental magic like fire or ice.

“Okay, I believe we should start with just focusing on the abilities you are capable of. For me, I know a lot of spells and abilities and use them in different ways to fit my fight style. For you though, lets see what you can do first before we make any adjustments.”

Gon nodded, taking off his upper shirt. He now had a sleeveless white undershirt on and shorts, which made it easier for him to move around in. “Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Nicko smirked a little. He loved this kids determination. Gon soon took up a fighting stance and focused on trying to remember how this first move was pulled off. He focused his Nen into his fist as he shot himself forward in a head on attack.

“JAJANKEN: ROCK!!”

If it weren’t for Nicko’s quick reactions, the punch would’ve hit him in the chest. Instead, he dashed out of the way at the last second and the punch caused a big hole to form in the tree that was behind him. Fluttershy almost freaked out by the damage done to “Mr. Tree” and advised Gon to please be careful so that way no other trees or animals could get hurt.

“That ability was powerful,” Nicko commented. “But it won’t help you unless you know how to control it. Tell me, how many abilities do you have?”

“Three.” Gon replied. “Jajanken is my Nen and it’s based on the origins behind Rock, Paper, Scissors. What I just did was my first attack, rock, which is an enhancement ability.”

“Because you put your power into your fist.”

“Exactly. Paper is an Emission based skill and Scissors is a Transmission skill. Each with it’s own properties.” Gon continues. “Need a demonstration?”

“Be my guest.” Nicko encouraged him. Soon, Gon prepared himself and placed one of his hands in front of him, almost like if he was trying to do a ki blast in Dragon Ball Z. The other arm was holding it in place as he began to focus. Soon, it began to work.

“JAJANKEN: PAPER!!”

This one, caught Nicko off guard. He thought of Gon to be more of the brawler type and focus more on straightforward attacks. So this Blast of Nen energy surprised him. He was still able to dodge it as the blast hit a nearby rock. Not exactly breaking it to pieces, but still scraping it.

“Heh… And that was only my weakest skill.”

“Well, that was definitely quite impressive. So… I’m Presuming that Rock is your strongest and Paper is your weakest?”

“Something like that.”

Nicko now took off his coat. “And I’m guessing your third one is somewhere in the middle? Stronger than paper, but not as strong as rock.”

“Yes, That’s Scissors.” Gon said as he demonstrated for a brief second. Taking the same stance as with Rock, but his energy forming a blade. “Not as strong as Rock, but can cut things that Rock can’t break.”

Nicko himself was personally impressed. “Well, now to find a way to improve upon what you know. Like I said earlier, you need to come up with different methods for your three techniques and apply them to your combat style. Just because you only know those three moves mean that you can’t use them in multiple ways. Paper could hit the ground and cause a smokescreen from the dust it’ll cough up. You can probably channel your Nen to have Rock be felt from the opposite side of a wall or better yet, strengthen scissors so that way, it can stand up to an enchanted sword or weapon.” The Rune Slayer now continued to speak, but on a different subject.

“There is one thing I did notice that you seem to struggle with, Gon. I’m not quite sure if it’s because of your young age or something else, but my only concern at this rate is you controlling your aura.”

The young boy blinked a little and tilted his head, confused. “Control?”

“Eris, I think you're better at explaining this than I am.” The Rune Slayer told the Chaos spirit as she picked up on the conversation. “Basically, what Nicko is saying is that you need to not use up too much power on a single attack. In fact, this reminds me of a method my dad taught us for chaos magic called ICE. It’s broken down into three steps. Imagination, Concentration and Energy. You have Imagination and the energy to pull off your skills, but Concentration is the thing you lack. At times, like with you using Rock, you use up a lot of energy, but can’t control it like you can do with Paper. Do you understand?”

Gon nodded his head, trying to follow along. Nicko sighed. “I believe the only way we can truly see if our teachings have paid off is if Gon and I fight. Better get ready.”

“Wait, what-?”

Without warning, Nicko dashed towards Gon and used his Explosive Fist skill to try and hit Gon with a fist full of flames. However, with the youngster’s speed, he was able to avoid the Rune Slayer’s attack. This didn’t stop Nicko though as he used the magic that was radiating in his fist to form two runes and send them in Gon’s direction. One behind the other. When Gon used Jajanken: Paper, it only struck the first one and surprised him when the second rune hit him.

It didn’t knock him back far though as he quickly went back on his feet. “Heh… you seem to be holding back.”

“Obviously… Why do I need to use my full strength anyways? I’m just in a small fight with you. I’m not trying to kill you or anything like that, but I know that there might be others who would do so. Therefore, this is for your own benefit.” Eris herself just returned to Nicko’s body as he and Gon clashed again for a few more strikes that lasted for another couple of minutes. At one point though, Gon was able to hurt Nicko with Jajanken: Scissors and scratch him near the right cheek.

“O-oh my!!” Fluttershy squeaked. “Are you alright, Mr. Nicko!?”

“I’m okay. It’s just a minor scratch. Still though Gon, I’m quite impressed with what you are capable of.” Nicko said as he picked up his coat.

“Wait… so that’s that!? We’re done!!?! Come on!! I want to hear more of your stories, Mr. Nicko!!!” The young boy complained, pouting a little as he sat down by Fluttershy. Nicko himself, while holding his coat, just walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder as he smiled.

“In due time. Right now though, my world needs me… But, if there is an off chance that you need me for anything, use this.” Nicko then handed to him his Rune Slayer mark. “That is my summoning token. You can use it to summon me to your world anytime you need me. I believe you may also have a token on you too that represents you.”

Gon didn’t know it at the time, but soon, his back pocket began to glow. In it was an item he recognized. The Hunter License of Gon’s father in the anime, Ging. Soon though, his aura caused the single license to split into two.

“Now… is there something you would like to say? How should the other Displaced in the Multiverse hear you?”

Gon sighed. Unsure of what to actually say. Then, it came to him. My name is Gon Freecss and I’m a hunter. If you ever need my abilities in Nen, then call upon me. To call upon me hold this License and say my name. I will hear you… and I will come. Gon then said to Nicko. “So now what?”

“Well, I better get going. Our fight just now had probably attracted some attention. I feel Twilight’s magic closing in right now. So… See ya around!” With that, Nicko used his own token to conjure a small portal as he hopped inside and have it close seconds later, leaving Gon and Fluttershy there in the fields. But they were also left with an experience the two of them will never forget.

Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s world)

When Nicko returned, things weren’t quite the way they were when he was last here. For one thing, Mostly everypony was gone. Max seemed to have went back to his own world and left his token in Nicko’s room. Not only that, but the painting of the Lake was gone. Replaced by a Photo of him and his brother from seven years ago. It felt strange, but somehow, the castle felt empty. Why though was another question.

That’s when he saw a note on the floor. It looked like it was intended for Twilight, but it seemed like he came across it first.

I’ll be back in a little while Twilight. I’m going to try and find Uncle Nicko. He’s probably in his room using one of his tokens again, so I shouldn’t be gone long.

-Faith

“Oh no……” Nicko told himself as he ran back into the room. He was quick to realize that it had definitely looked like the box of tokens was in disarray. But soon, he noticed one that was left out of the picture. A unloaded gun with the name ‘Evoker’ etched in the handle. He was told by Yuri that his brother had used the same token to call upon an ally to help him kill Eric all those years ago. Now, Faith must’ve somehow ended up in their world. And just when he thought that he couldn’t catch a break.

Time to go world hopping again.

Meanwhile…

Faith herself was wondering aimlessly through the rocky terrain she was in. Unaware of her current location or where in the world she exactly was. But she did know one thing, and that was that she was not alone. For in the distance, she heard the cries of a filly.

Getting closer, her eyes widened upon who she saw. Somepony that she only thought was an imaginary friend of hers in a stuff animal. It was Dinky hooves. And she seemed…… lost.

“Are you okay?” She asked quietly, trying not to startle the frightened filly. The young unicorn was scared a little at first, but then tried to reply the best she could.

“W-who… are you?”

“I’m…… a friend. My name is Faith.” She told her, unsure if this version of Dinky knew her father or not. “What’s your name?” Dinky replied by saying her full name and then saying something that personally surprised Faith.

“I wish daddy were here. He and Orphey were with me last time something like this happened.”

“Who’s your dad?” She then asked.

“Well…… his name was Anson Nocte… I think-.”

“Wait…… That’s the name of my dad.”

Both of them stared at each other in pure shock and confusion. They didn’t quite know how to make of this…… but then, Dinky said something that made Faith’s heart skip a beat.

“D-does this mean…… we’re sisters?”

End Log 9

Log 10- Reunion Part 1

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Of Magic and Machines- Reunion part 1

Canterlot (Orpheus’ World)

‘Hello stone street, we meet again.’

Nicko groaned to himself as his vision was trying to return to normal. His head was pounding like a Blacksmith was hammering an Anvil inside his head as his vision was beginning to correct itself. It was only a few minutes ago that he went through another portal after Faith, who went to another dimension in hopes of finding him after he disappeared for only a few minutes. This whole series of events had been one wild goose chase for the Rune Slayer and it was beginning to irritate him.

"I'm sorry Derpy, but ketchup flavored muffins only exist in... Caneighda?" A voice echoes. The Rune Slayer opened his eyes to find himself in an alleyway. It felt unfamiliar, but he remembered seeing the streets before. They weren’t like the streets of the Griffon Kingdom back in Ryu’s world though. They felt more like the streets of…

Canterlot.

He was in Canterlot… Well, more like another Canterlot to be precise. He stayed in the alley for a couple of minutes, watching the civilians pass. They weren’t Anthropomorphic like in his Equestria. But more likely similar to the ponies that were in the fairy tale books. On all four hooves no less.

“Aww… do they have any Chocolate chip muffins?” He heard another voice that was nearby ask the first one.

“Let me check…”

‘Eris… Are you there?’

‘Yeah…… you could do everypony a favor and warn them before you decide to go leaping through random portals after Faith.”

‘Sorry that I screwed up then. Mind if you do me a favor though? Can you take a peak around the corner and see who is talking?’

The Draconequus sighed, looking around the corner since nopony could see her through her invisibility spell. ‘It looks like a grey pegasus and… What in tartarus is that?’

Now Nicko was curious. Using the reflective surface on his phone, he took a brief peak. What he saw was a bipedal creature that resembled Konohana Sakuya from Persona 4. A game he spent hours playing on an old Playstation 2 he had before the orphanage he was at traded it out for a PS3. “Well, that looks like a Displaced if I’ve ever seen one-.”

‘You idiot! Put that away!! The Reflection would attract their attention!’

“Oh horseapples!”

He put his phone away the same moment that the Displaced turned around.

“... We’re being watched… Footsteps.” It simply spoke.

“Huh? How’d you know that?”

“Call it a detective’s intuition…”

‘Well crap.’ Nicko cursed mentally. At this point, there was no reason at all for him to hide. Slowly, he stepped out from the alley, facing towards the Persona and the Pegasus. “Sorry about that… I was trying to be cautious since I didn’t have any clue on where I ended up exactly.” The reaction that he got though from the Persona was not quite what he expected though. Especially with the first question that she asked him.

“It’s alright… I guess… So, What’s your name kid?” She spoke cautiously.

“Nicko Nocte.”

The name caused her to reel back in shock.

“Y-you’re… THAT Nicko?! The one that went missing alongside hundreds?!”

“Umm… Excuse me?” Nicko asked. “Did I somehow gain a reputation while I was gone? Because I’ve only been gone for seven years in my Equestria and it’s been almost over twenty years back home for me.”

She chuckled a little. “Allow me to explain. My name is Sakuya here… But back on earth it was Selene Harben, Detective in… I guess I can’t say training. I was put on the biggest case yet. I can’t go into details, but I assume you know. It was about over a hundred different cosplayers suddenly going missing.”

“...... Miss, I think you honestly gone head over heals with this. Besides, it’s not like you can find all the Displaced in the world and send them back home.” The Rune Slayer told her. “Besides, this sounds more like a personal investigation then one that would be assigned to you.”

“...” She goes silent for a minute. “You know kid, You’re pretty good.”

“Umm, thanks?” The Rune Slayer asked. “Quick question, do you know anyone here that goes by the name ‘Orpheus’?”

“Yeah. He’s the one I’ve been personally involving myself in this case with.” She replies, toneless.

“Let me guess… He’s important to you?” Nicko asked, holding the Evoker that his brother would use as a token to call upon Orpheus.

“Spot on.”

Nicko grinned a little. “Okay, why don’t you catch me up to speed on everything because it seems like there’s a lot of information that I don’t know-.”

BANG!!

Nicko heard the sound echo as he looked upward at the shield that covered the city… And the crack in the center that was beginning to grow. “That’s not a good sign, is it?”

“Nnnope.”

“M-miss… Sakuya, I’m s-scared…” Derpy adds, hiding behind one of Sakuya’s legs. Nicko himself drew his sword as he saw something swarm onto the streets. He knew exactly what these were.

“Changelings… Damn it. The LAST thing I expected… Although… This will give me a chance to break loose a little.”

“Oh... This is bad! Why did this happen now?!” Sakuya shouts, panicking. Nicko himself was getting a little excited though as the Changeling drones began to drop down. He blasted the first few with a few runes that he conjured in his hands followed by smacking another in the face.

“Is that all you got you bug eyed freaks?”

‘Nicko, that’s Racist.’

‘How is that Racist?’

‘You mean you don’t know-!?’

“Maragi!” A few more of the drones got sent back by spheres of fire. Nicko turned around to see that Sakuya was casting her own abilities to protect Derpy. As for himself, he continued to fight with swift strikes from his blade as his black scarf from his Red Devil Hunter clothes waved in the wind. A few more drones instantaneously burst into fire.

“I can fight too you know!” Moving the wings on her back, they began to glow with energy.

“Maragi!” A few drones burst into fire again.

“Nice job. But something tells me that we got more incoming.” Nicko told the Persona. “Any idea where the head honcho in charge might be?”

“The castle most likely. If we’re where I think we are…”

Nicko began to scan the area, but it was Eris who caught his attention. ‘Hey Nicko, I found ourselves a way up to the castle.’

“How so?”

‘Ever been to the circus before? I personally enjoy the Living Catapult act. We’re doing our own version… Just with you instead of a stuntpony.’

“Great…… Well, this is going to be interesting.” Nicko said, seeing the catapult. “Hey Sakuya, I got a plan.”

“Who the hell were you talking to?”

“Eris… I’ll tell you later after were in a situation where we won’t get ourselves killed.” The Rune Slayer said to the Persona. “Now, help me crank the catapult over here.”

“Fine.”

Nicko and Sakuya, along with Derpy, rushed over to the Catapult and got to work. Nicko aimed it towards the Glass window that was along the side of the main hall of the castle. He could see Chrysalis along the window. Oh THIS was going to be fun…

“Alright, got it ready?”

“Yep. FIRE ONE!” Derpy yells.

“Derpy! I told you that was my job to shout that!”

“Sorry…” Before Sakuya could say anything else, Derpy’s hoof slipped on the release lever, launching Nicko into the air.

“Ooops… I just don’t know what went wrong…”

Hall of Elements

Inside the hall, hundreds of Drones remained inside with the Elements of Harmony and the defeated Persona known as Thanatos. Queen Chrysalis herself was boasting to Cadence on how she had won. That there was no way to break her control of her husband. But, one drone had to interrupt her victory speech.

“Uhh… My queen.”

“WHAT!?”

“Somethings…… coming?”

Thanatos and the other ponies looked up to watch the next moment unfold right before their eyes. A Red haired boy in a hunter like attire came smashing through the glass window and putting his foot in Chrysalis’ face.

“SAIL!!!”

The kick sent the queen spiraling across the hall, crashing into the walls at the other end of the room.

“The hell?!” The persona on the floor shouts, using his sword as support. Twilight looked up at the individual. Somehow, it reminded her of…… Anson?

Nicko himself turned around to face Cadence. “I’ll hold them off. You do what you can to help your husband.”

At that moment, Sakuya and Derpy come flying through the already broken window. Landing on the ground, Sakuya stood up, shaking.

“Never letting myself get talked into flying lessons by Derpy…” She mutters aloud.

“WHO DARES TO STRIKE ME!!?! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?”

“Miss,” Nicko said. “I got 99 problems, but a B*tch like you ain’t one of them.”

Chrysalis’ eye twitches a bit. “You’re serious, right? You’re going to try to fight me?! I already won!”

“I think you haven’t realized that my kick broke your concentration. Which means your control over Mr. Armor is broken.”

“WHAT?!”

Skidding, Sakuya flew over behind Chrysalis. Turning with incredible speed, she managed to kick Chrysalis behind her head, causing her to faceplant on the ground.

“Oooh… That’s going to leave a mark.”

“They assaulted the queen!! Get ‘em!!”

“Aw… F*ck.” Sakuya mutters, readying herself. Nicko though, had another strategy. Using his runes, he broke the restraints placed on Thanatos and the Mane Six.

“Hope you can fight because we might need backup.”

“W-who are you?” Twilight asked Faintly.

“Names Nicko Nocte. At your service.” The Rune Slayer bows as he also swung his sword, defeating a few changelings.

Using his sword, Thanatos pushed himself up and turned swiftly around, smacking the changelings behind him.

“Are.. You somehow related to…” Twilight was cut off as a changeling missed her by a mile. A wagon wheel somehow rolled passed the two.

“Less talking, more fighting. We’re trying to buy Cadence time!! Not Socialize!!!”

“Sorry!” Twilight shouts. She used her magic to blast a few of the bugs coming at her as her friends tried to stand their ground. The Unicorn soon casted a shield barrier that surrounded all of them… Except for Nicko, who avoided it on purpose.

“What are you doing!?”

“What am I doing? I’m just getting started!!” Nicko retorted, Casting Critical Sword and increasing his attack strength and speed as he took on the horde head on.

“You’re stupid!” Sakuya shouts.

“Am I!?” Nicko’s hands began to form with aquamarine magic as he executed another powerful spell that removed most of the horde in front of him. “LUNA… BLADE!!!” The Mystical sword crashed into the ground, sending many foes flying into the wall while restoring a portion of his expanded Mana. But now, as he turned around, he was looking at Cadence. Who had just got her husband to snap back to reality.

“Just… You could have gotten killed!”

“I took my brothers place to get encased in stone so he could defeat a madman. I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Wait, You were stuck in stone?!” Twilight shouts, slapping a hoof to her forehead.

“Uh yeah. Seven years. I got freed by my niece about a few days ago.”

“So you’re his brother…” She mutters.

The minute she finished that a pink glow came from Shining and Cadence. Everyone watched as the glow grew bigger and bigger, but Sakuya’s eyes were on something else. Chrysalis. The minute the shockwave hit her, She fell to the ground in a violent seizure. Her lifeless body was sent flying with her brethren all the way out of Canterlot into the unknown beyond. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was the Ponies, a freed Celestia, the Persona’s and the Rune Slayer. Nicko himself was trying to help Celestia get back on her hooves.

“Are you okay, miss?”

“Yes… Thank you.. Er..”

“Nicko. My name is Nicko.”

Celestia smiled warmly. “Thank you, Nicko.”

Twilight stood with a blank stare directed at the Rune Slayer. Nicko himself turned around, soon tilting his head at the Unicorn. “Hunh? Is something wrong?”

“W-well.. It’s just that… Do you know anyone by the name of.. Anson?”

“You know my brother?”

“Well, Yeah… He did kinda save us from a crazy.. What did he call them…”

“Esper? I thought it would be something along those lines.” Nicko said. “After all, we were both originally facing him until a jerk move by that guy had me jump in front of my brother as a human shield in order for him to survive. From then on was when my brother called upon Orpheus with this.” At the end of his statement, Nicko took out Evoker.

“I see now… It makes a lot more sense that way...” Twilight says.

“For the record, when I woke up seven years later, I find out that he’s a father because his daughter was the one who freed me… and apparently is the reason why I’m here. But let’s worry about that later. I think a round two is in order for this Royal Wedding.”

A second later a rainbow burst zooms through the broken window.

“I heard that everypony was in Canterlot so- why are you all looking at me like that?!”

“Where the buck have you been?” Thanatos asked, an angry tone in his voice.

“Lookin’ for Dinks of course!”

“Dinks?” Nicko asked. He was unsure what the Nickname stood for.

“Yeah. Dinky, Ya know?”

“Dinky?” Came a faint voice. When Rainbow turned around with everypony else, they were all shocked to see who it was. Derpy Hooves. A mare presumed to be dead.

“Oh yeah… Bombshell time, Derpy is alive.” Thanatos said.

“Oh my Gosh…”

“Dear Sweet Celestia…”

“I’m RIGHT HERE, you know!!” The Sun alicorn responded at her name being used for a curse word.

“H-has… She been found yet?” Derpy asked meekly.

Rainbow sadly shakes her head. The room falls silent once again. “No, but we’ll find her soon Derpy. I promise.”

The silence reigns until Rainbow breaks it again. “He’s still looking for her, ya know?”

“Wait… He? Do you mean Orpheus?” Nicko asked.

“Yep. He actually hasn’t slept at all... Nor eaten…”

‘Who knew that Persona could sleep...’ Nicko thought to himself.

“He’s stupid… But that also kinda makes him cute.” Sakuya peeps.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she looked at Sakuya. “Who’s the new girl?”

“Sakuya. Konohana Sakuya.”

“O...kay. Moving on… What did I miss?”

A few hours later

“Cool story bro.” Rainbow replied after explanations have been made.

“Where’d you hear that?” Thanatos asked.

“Orpheus.” She simply shrugs.

“Right… You’re Sarcasm is not helping, Skittles.” Nicko said. “Because now comes the hard part. Sakuya, remember when you asked me about who I was talking to earlier?”

She nods.

“Well, that’s the thing. I had told you already about my story, the people I met and my Partner Eris. The Draconequus that’s Discord’s daughter… Well, Eris is actually with me.”

The ponies erupt into choruses of “WHAT!”’s and “EXCUSE ME?!”’s as they all looked at Nicko. He just sighed. “Ever heard of the Phrase Voices in my head? Well with her, she’s literally that. She’s a second pair of eyes and a trusted friend and comrade. She even was imprisoned in stone with me instead of fleeing to help my brother.”

“Huh. And here I was thinking you were like a certain marvel superhero... merc... thing...” Sakuya replied.

The Rune Slayer himself though sighed. A little bit of mist began to take form as Eris emerged from Nicko. She looked at Nicko with her arms crossed. “Well, This is quite a crowd if you ask me. Seems like you’re good with making friends from other Equestria’s, Nicky.”

“Well… uh…” Twilight was speechless. Eris soon appeared next to the Unicorn, poking her nose. Twilight herself blinked a little at the gesture.

“Geez, not as easy to tickle like the others.”

Nicko himself facepalmed at the comment. “Eris, now might not be the time for playing around.”

“That’s my job!” Sakuya suddenly shouted, holding a bag of popcorn.

“I thought you were a detective… or is the term Private Investigator?”

“Ok one, I’m a woman. I can have fun sometimes. Two, Yes Private Investigator is what it was on my job title.”

“Yet, you say was. Is that suppose to be past tense?”

“Eris, that’s enough. We’re not here to irritate people.” Nicko told her, signalling with his hand for her to return to being inside his mind by bending the first two fingers in his right hand towards himself in a curling motion. Eris soon faded away, returning to Nicko. “Sorry if she got on your nerves, Sakuya. She can be like that at times.”

“Nah. She’s just afraid that I’ll kick her-.”

“That’s ENOUGH!” Celestia cried out, catching everypony’s attention. “We will postpone the ceremony to this evening. As of right now though, everypony, including Nicko and Sakuya, should get some rest.”

Sakuya suddenly started coughing. “GOINGTORAIDLUNA’SMOONSHINE.”

“Huh?”

“Nothin’~!”

‘Says the fact that she basically said that in all caps.’ Eris mentally told Nicko, who ignored the comment as he walked out with the others.

“I really hate you Sakuya…” Rainbow muttered to herself. Only Nicko heard that as everypony else was focusing on their own agenda’s. Including fixing up the streets and preparing for the royal wedding… again.

“Uh… May I ask you a few questions actually?” Twilight asked Nicko as the came across the fountain in the Mane Square.

“Uh sure, I guess. What questions do you have?”

“Well…” With a puff of smoke, A list was grasped in a purple aura.

“What exactly is it like to be shot with the Elements?”

“Like getting hit in the chest with Pinkie Pie’s Party cannon. Trust me, I had to wake up to the sound of that going off.”

“Next, I wanted to know exactly how’d you get here? As far as I know, Others like you can only be summoned by a “Token”.”

“That’s correct. But it works two ways. Ever heard of Newton’s third law where every action has an equal and opposite reaction? Well, to put it simply, it’s like a magnet. You either pull the one you're summoning to your world or they pull you there. With a bit of experience, you can go to them without getting yanked over.”

Twilight looked up at him with amusement in her eyes. “You mean Neighton, right?”

“I guess. His first name is Issac right?”

Twilight nods. “Something like that.”

“Then that’s the one.” The Rune Slayer tells her as he brought out his journal from one of his coats pockets. Twilight herself looked on the outside to see a strangely familiar cutie mark. Starswirl the Bearded’s to be exact.

“Is that… S-starswirl the Bearded’s notebook?!” She exclaimed, acting like somepony in anticipation.

“In a way, it is. I use it as a notebook, but it’s also a goldmine of knowledge on the magic that I use. In fact, back where I’m from, this is the only book in existence that has information on Runic Magic.”

“Wow! M-may I look at it?!”

“If you want. But back where I’m from-.”

Twilight ignored the Rune Slayer as she got on his lap and used the levitation spell to try and read the book. However, to her dismay, she couldn’t understand it. She had read spellbooks before. But how can this one be different?

“I can’t read a thing in this-.”

“That’s the thing. Only I can read it. My Twilight from where I from tried the same thing and even tried a translation spell. But it didn’t work no matter after trying over thirty different methods.”

“B-but!” She was cut off as a rainbow blur sped past.

“Eshcuse me~!” She bubbled.

“Rainbow? Are you okay?” Nicko asked.

“I’m fiii*hic*ne!”

“Wait…… Are you… drunk?” Nicko asked.

“Moonshine is… ish.. powerful shtuff… Itsh delishious!” She fell over sideways.

“Wait… don’t tell me… Does Princess Luna have a secret alcohol compartment?” Nicko asked Twilight.

She shrugs as Thanatos ran past them.

“HELP ME!”

“COME BACK SHENPAI!” A drunken Sakuya ran after him.

“Ugh... This is nearly every day here.” Twilight groans.

“Thank god that you haven’t met Amy. She’s just as bad.”

Twilight giggled a little until Applejack and Rarity came running up.

“Have y’all seen Sakuya? She jus’ ran by actin’ crazy.” Applejack drawls.

“She just ran past us chasing Thanatos. Also, Rainbow passed out at our feet.” Nicko told them as he picked up the pegasus in both arms like he would pick up a cat.

“That’s our Rainbow…” Applejack deadpans.

“Something tells me that she and Sakuya hit the tab a bit early?”

“We’re afraid not.” Luna suddenly teleports behind the two.

“Princess Luna!” The ponies cry. A black bottle was set down in the middle of the group. Nicko himself greeted the Princess with a small bow while still holding a passed out Dashie.

“Let me guess… Moonshine?”

“Thou art correct.”

“Uhh.. Luna, Language?” Twilight subtly reminded Luna.

She blushes and coughs. “W-I mean, You are correct.”

“I had a feeling. Rainbow said something about it being delicious before passing out. Now I’m holding her like I’m cuddling a puppy.”

“Curses! I was preparing that for tomorrow night!”

“Tomorrow?” Nicko asked. “Is something going on the day after the Wedding?”

“Well, Instead of an after-wedding party, Madame Pinkie Pie suggested a after.. after wedding party… And we-I thought it was a good idea..” She blushes a bit while the ponies facehoof.

“So…… you mean a honeymoon?” Nicko asked, while Rainbow purred in his arms.

“Yes.” Luna says before casting a spell. A trail of different footprints started to glow blue.

“Well. We’re off to find them. Have a good day, Sir Nicko.” Luna told them as Rarity, Applejack and herself galloped off. Nicko himself turned to Twilight.

“Maybe we should go find Derpy and find a place to set Rainbow down. That way, I have my arms free.”

Twilight nods and levitates Rainbow. However, partway through, Rainbow begins to talk to herself, holding onto the Rune Slayer’s arms with her hooves. “M-mama… don’t take me away from Mr. Blankie… Pweease.”

Nicko looked at Twilight. “Maybe I should just carry her for now.”

Twilight stifled her giggles and gave Rainbow back. Nicko turned his head to the left to see Derpy flying Idly in the air. “Hey there-. What happened to Rainbow?”

“Skittles got banged up by some moonshine she took from Luna’s chambers.” Nicko joked around a little, motioning towards Rainbow… who was calling him “papa”. “Wanna lead the way to a room that I can set her down in until she recovers from her hangover?”

A yell suddenly erupts from down the alleyway. “My head! Gaah! SO THIS IS HOW I WAKE UP FROM A DRUNKEN STATE! GAAH!”

“Oh boy… Sakuya must’ve felt the backlash of getting drunk.”

From around the corner came a panting Thanatos. “I f*cking hate drunk selene!” He shouts. That was when the Persona noticed the drunken Pegasus in the Rune Slayer’s arms.

“I so wish I had a camera right now…” He muttered.

“Don’t worry, I got it covered…” Nicko said as he got out his phone with one hand and sat down. Click! “That should do the trick. One photo of Rainbow acting cute while drunk obtained.”

“That’s too cute.”

“Yeah, but let’s get her a room before she wakes up.” Nicko told them. “Lead the way, Derpy.”

She nods and starts to trot off. Nicko followed her while Twilight stayed with Thanatos and a recovering Sakuya. This was going to be a long day ahead…

Meanwhile (Next Morning)...

For the past few hours, Faith had traveled alongside Dinky, hoping to find a way to get back to Ponyville and home. However, there were two major things missing. One was a map. The other was food.

“Uh… A-are we lost?”

“I-i don’t know, Dinky… But I think I see a lake where we could sit down and rest. Come on, I’ll carry you.”

Dinky obliged, letting the Code Nemesis ‘carry her’ by letting her sit on Faith’s head. The Little filly enjoyed it because it reminded her of when her mother gave her Ponyback rides. Especially since Faith was able to glide.

“Here we go… The Lake seems to be clean, so use it to clean yourself up. Okay, Dinky?”

She nodded tiredly and set down her saddlebag before she waded into the water. Dinky was having fun with washing the fish in the pond swim around her. She even wanted Faith to jump in, who kindly refused so she could catch her breath.

“Come on! It’ll be fun!”

“… Ah, what the heck? CANNONBALL!!!” Faith hollered as she splashed into the water and her drones stood on the sidelines. While scanning around though, they picked up something inside Dinky’s bag. Something that resembled a shard of some sort.

“Faith… Dinky has a token in her bag.” Moby told the Code Queen, holding the darkened crystal.

“Wha-?”

“Hey!! Give it back! Daddy gave that to me!”

Now Faith was caught off guard by that. “Wait… Dad gave that to you? That’s Dad’s Token!?”

“Well, Uh... Yeah?”

“Do you know how to use it?” Faith asked, the thought of her father on her mind. “I would really like to see him again. See him for the hero that he is.”

“W-well...” Dinky squeaks a little as both of them got out of the lake. “I-i don’t really know how too…”

“Oh…” Faith said. “Well, how about once we get closer to Ponyville, we’ll give it a try-.”

“DINKY!!”

The voice caught the two of them off guard as three fillies ambushed Faith. “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure that this monster won’t hurt you!!”

“G-girls, wait!! Faith isn’t a monster! She’s a friend!”

Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle all lifted their heads, while looking at her. “S-seriously!? But look at how huge she is… and the orb on her head!”

“Hey, my head is fine, thank you!!”

Dinky quickly hugs the three fillies. “Uh... Where’s Orphey?”

“Canterlot!” Sweetie peeps. “He and Rainbow have been looking for you everywhere!!”

“... Really?” She breaks into tears.

“It’s okay, we’ll find them soon.” Faith encourages her, trying her best to boost Dinky’s moral.

She wipes her eyes and smiles. “You see anything, Applebloom?! Sweetie Belle?! Scootaloo?!” A voice cries.

“Yeah! We found Dinky, Lyra!” Scootaloo cries.

Faith raised an eyebrow, looking at the Fillies. “Lyra? Who’s that?”

“Y-you found Dinky!? That’s GREAT!!! Uh.. What about…”

The three fillies rolled their eyes. “He’s in Canterlot too!” They shouted in unison.

“Oh… Well, bring her back to Ponyville. Twilight and Rainbow are back with a new guest. Some red maned Twoleg-.”

The words “Red Maned” had Dinky rise up quickly react quickly. “D-daddy?” Soon, she went off like Speedy Gonzales, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

“Dinky, wait!!” Faith cried out to her. But her pleas were heard on deaf ears.

‘I’m coming… Daddy...’

Ponyville…

The train ride back to Ponyville for Nicko was quite enjoyable. He finally got the chance to meet with Orpheus, but he wasn’t able to show him that Derpy was indeed alive. However, moments after walking out, his first comment was interrupted by a filly sized missile going full speed at him and hitting him the chest.

“Well, this place is quite peacefu- AHH!!”

WHAM!!!!

“Keep it down! My head is still pounding!” Sakuya yells, waking up from her self-induced sleep.

“I think something just hit Nicko.” Twilight told Orpheus.

“I think so too…” He says, looking over at Sakuya.

Nicko himself had no freaking idea what the hell blindsided him until he saw a Filly hugging him “Daddy!!”

“W-what the-?”

“Wrong Displaced, Dinky!” Thanatos chokes out.

“Wait… Did you say D-dinky?” Orpheus asked his brother.

“Well, it’s kind of Obvious. She’s hugging him around the Neck-.”

“Wait… Y-you’re not D-daddy?” She yells, tears popping up in the corners of her eyes.

“Uncle Nicko!!”

Nicko looked up, seeing Faith come towards her. “Oh my god, Faith!! You scared the crap out of me!!!”

“I’m sorry… I thought you got lost! Then I met Dinky and one thing led to another.” Faith said, sitting down and hugging the filly. “It’s okay… Everythings going to be alright, Sis.”

“Wait, what?”

“She sees Daddy as her daddy so that means were sisters right?” Faith asked. All Nicko did was just sigh deeply. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw a darkened crystal on the ground. He reached towards it to pick it up and give it back to Dinky, but something else occurred. A bright flash that made Nicko skid back a little and have Faith hold onto Dinky to protect her. Opening their eyes again, a new figure stood before them One that make Nicko stare in shock.

In front of them was a new figure. A red haired human. A little taller than Nicko, but by a few inches. He wore a long black coat with inner red trimmings along his chest and midsection and black pants. The figures Sword was different, but Nicko noticed that he was Carrying two of them. He knew only person that wielded two swords.

“Okay, who was the one that summoned me-?”

“DADDY!!!!” Dinky shouted, glomping the figure.

“What the? Anson?!” Orpheus shouts, recalling the battle they fought.

“Orpheus? Dinky?” Now was when Anson turned his own head, his eyes making contact on the figure that was his daughter. “F-faith? I-is that you?”

“DAD!!” Faith cried out, hugging Anson immediately. “I’ve missed you so much!!!”

“Oh my god, you scared me! W-why did you leave? We all thought you ran away.”

“I was… looking for a christmas gift to give you.”

“A… gift?” Anson asked, but soon chuckled. “Well, what did you find?”

Anson then turned around, finally making eye contact with Nicko as he got down on one knee. “She found me… Brother.”

“Uh sorry to interrupt a sweet moment... But who the heck are you?” Sakuya asks, still holding a hand to her head.

“Anson Nocte. Infinity Sword. Now, what business do you have with me and my daughters?” Nicko realized that Anson used the Plural term when finishing his sentence. Guess he did see both Dinky and Faith as his children and they can see themselves as Sisters

“Ngh.. Keep it down.” She mutters.

“Don’t mind her. Hangover’s getting to her.” Twilight told her. “You should’ve seen it when Nicko was holding Rainbow Dash after she passed out.”

“I-... What!?”

“ … Maybe we should go to the library to talk about this?” Anson suggested as he got up. But as he got up, Dinky saw something. No… more like somepony that she thought was gone.

“M-mommy?”

“Dinky?!”

“MOMMY!!!” The Filly screamed as she dove into her mother's warm embrace.

“Holy sh*t! Derpy’s alive?!” Orpheus shouts.

“Mommy!! I’ve missed you so much! You won’t believe the fun adventures I’ve had with Orpheus, Faith and Daddy!!”

“UH… Huh? I’m… What?!” She yelps. Anson now felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine as he looked at Twilight and Orpheus.

“Yeah… I think there are a lot of things that we need to talk about.”

“Yeah… There is.” Orpheus agrees, Eyes dancing over to Sakuya every now and again.

“Well, let’s get Sakuya to lay down and have everypony come to the library so we could explain everything.” Twilight suggested. Both Brothers nodded and followed the Unicorn along with Faith, Dinky, Derpy, Orpheus, and Thanatos since he was carrying Sakuya.

“Screw all of you! I’m fine!”

End Log 10

Log 11- Reunion Part 2

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Reunion part 2

Golden Oaks Library (Orpheus’ World)

As the groups settled into the library a silence took the air.

“So…” Twilight nervously said. “Who wants to start?”

“I believe I should.” Anson said. “That way, I could properly explain why Dinky refers to me as “Daddy”.”

“I’d like to know too.” Derpy spoke up.

“Well, it happened a little bit after I arrived here. I met Dinky, who knew Orpheus, and I was helping her with some Multiplication problems. During this, she looked a little upset and when I asked her what was wrong, Dinky said that I reminded her of her dad. Time Turner. That’s when I told her about my brother and then… she asked me if I could be her dad.”

“And you said yes.” Faith replied.

“Exactly. I didn’t want Dinky to feel alone because at the time, I had only known that she lost both of her parents and she needed somepony to help support her. I was only doing what I thought was best for your daughter, Ms. Hooves.” Anson finished, getting on the ground in front of Derpy like he was asking for forgiveness.

“It’s Ok… I understand.”

“Y-you do?” Anson asked, a little confused. The mare nodded her head in response, hugging Anson.

“You as well as Orpheus have taken care of my little muffin and because of that, I can see that she has grown up. You mind not be her real father, but I’m just as proud to call you her surrogate father. In addition, I’m glad to see that Dinky has a sister as well.”

Faith turned at that moment to look at Dinky as the filly looked at her. The two of them hugged each other tightly as they embraced one another. Both of them were happy. Faith always wanted to have a little sister and Dinky always wanted to have a big sister. Now, both of those dreams have just came true. But now, Twilight herself had a few questions. Specifically for both Anson and Nicko.

“Hey Dinky, can I please talk with Nicko and Anson? You can go to your room if you want.”

“Okay, Twilight! Come on sis!” Dinky cheered as the two of them went to the upstairs room that Dinky was living in. Now, Derpy, Twilight, Orpheus and the two brothers were in the room while Thanatos was keeping an eye on Sakuya for if she woke up.

“So Twilight, what is it that you need to talk about with us?”

“Well… There are a few things I want to well…… clear up, so to speak.” The Unicorn asked, taking out a small book that resembled a embedded notebook. “According to Anson the last time we met, he said that the two of you were twins. But looking at you now, you two seem to be much farther apart in age and not like twins at all!! What exactly is the reason for that?”

Both brothers looked at each other. Anson was now a little taller than his brother, but both of them looked almost the same. However, the difference between the two was their voices. Anson’s voice sounded a lot deeper now when he was speaking. “Well, between our Equestria and our home, there's a time difference of three. Which means that when one day passes in Equestria, three days pass back on earth. For me, I was encased in stone for seven years while Anson had been back on earth. Which means I’m 25 and he’s right now 39.”

“.... Ok, Yeah… WHAT?!” Orpheus shouts, falling back a little.

He recovers and continues. “It’s only been like, A month or three after you left here!”

“Did I doze off again?” Sakuya mutters, walking down the stairs.

“What can I say Orphy?” Anson said, shrugging his shoulders. “Different worlds, different time based differences. Also, hello again. Sakuya right?”

She nods and leans against the wall. “S’up?”

“Well, we’ve been trying to answer some questions that Twilight had for us.”

“Jeeaaaa-Twilight trying to nerd you out?”

“No. Just trying to clarify some things.” She said.

“Whatever you say Nerd.”

Nicko sighed. Sakuya still looked a little Tipsy based on her choice in answers. “So yeah, to recap; I’m 25, he’s 39 and time is different in each world. Moving on…”

“Before anything else goes on, One last thing.” Sakuya says, climbing on the railing.

She suddenly leapt off, gliding down towards Orpheus.

“SAAAKUYAAAAAA PAWWWNCHCCCHHH!!!”

“THE- Ow!”

Nicko facepalmed himself and Anson just sighed. Being a stagediver was one thing, but performing a WWE move off of the Bannister was not something that they actually expected.

“Seriously?! What are-”

“That’s for leaving me aloooneee Jake!”

“.... Ok yeah, Should I stay out of this?” Thanatos said from the top of the stairs.

“One, yes. Two, can we please focus back on what Twilight had to ask us?” Anson asked. “We did interrupt her mid sentence before Sakuya decided to go all John Cena on Orpheus. Which reminds me, are you okay?”

“Yeah… We are having a talk later.” He says, rubbing his head.

“Fine…”

“Okay. Now that is done, where do you think you’re going to go from here Anson?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I was thinking of staying with Nicko and Faith. I’m here anyways and I was thinking about ways for me to spend more time with my daughter. Plus, I wonder how Amy and the others are since I left.”

“Oh trust me… you rather not know.”

“Uhh… Who’s Amy?”

“ …… Remember Sakuya when she was drunk? Well, think that, but worse…” Nicko told them, pulling out his phone. “Listen…”

PLAY

“We only have one other option to handle a threat like this… But it was Decommissioned sometime ago, Princess.”

“The Judicator. A aerial carriage that carries incredible firepower and allows for descents from up to 10000 feet!”

“Wow… I’m surprised you actually knew about that.”

“DO YOU EVEN READ MY HEART'S WARMING LIST!!?!”

END

“Case in point.”

“Ok, Yeah. She’s worse than me drunk.” Sakuya said.

“Also, she once walk into a classroom at Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns, pretended to get herself stuck in a wall and said “Hey kids!! Wanna see a dead body!?” Trust me, My Twilight witnessed everything.” Nicko said, remembering one of the talks the two have had recently.

The Personas, Minus Sakuya who was busting her gut with laughter, and Twilight all had pale faces plastered on. “It’s not funny, Sakuya.”

“Jus-just the expression on Filly Twilight’s face would be priceless!”

“This happened when she was giving a speech at the academy… Not during her fillyhood.”

“I… Ok never mind.”

“Wait…… Why was I giving a speech?” Twilight asked.

“Can’t tell you.” Nicko quickly retorted.

“Why-?”

“Spoiler alert!”

“Spoilers..? WHAT?!” Twilight shouted.

“Four words…” Anson told her. “Just… Roll… With… it.”

“But- Urgh!!!”

“And why did you do that?” Orpheus asked in a whisper.

“Because any spoilers might unwind time and space as we know it.”

“Oh come on… Can’t you just tell me if Sakuya would lose to Rainbow in a race?” He asked.

“Well, Duh.”

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, WHAT!?!”

“It’s not a spoiler if it’s obvious.” Nicko added onto it. “Anything else you guys want to ask?”

“I won a drinking challenge if that’s anything to prove!” Sakuya chirped.

“That had side effects.” Nicko said. “I was the one who had to hold Rainbow like I was cuddling Spike.”

“That… sounds cute.”

“She called me Papa.” The Rune Slayer added on.

“Aww…… The FEELS!!”

“What did I miss during the time I was trying to snap her out of her drunken state?!” Orpheus shouted.

“Rainbow thought I was a blanket, then called me Papa and snuggled in my lap.” Nicko said as the Cyan pegasus was just entering the room. Her reaction to what Nicko said was exactly what you would find on an old Mastercard commercial.

Priceless.

Click!

The next minute, Orpheus had darted in front of Rainbow with a mangled camera that had still managed to work. She didn’t even realized what just happened until Orpheus started talking again.

“Good thing we didn’t manage to mess this up too badly.” He says, taking out the film.

“And I was just about to ask what was going on.” Rainbow sighed. She saw the new figure next to Nicko and became confused. “Who’s the new guy?”

“Anson Nocte, at your service-.”

“Wait… As in Anson, Dinky’s father?”

“Wow…… News does travel fast.” The Infinity Sword said, gripping his swords and then stretching out his arms. “Yes, Dinky see’s me as that and Derpy approved of me being her surrogate father. Dinky now sees my daughter as her sister.”

“Wait, You’ve got a Daughter?” Both the persona and Pegasus ask.

“Did you not see the white haired girl that was with us?” Nicko asked sarcastically. “It wasn’t that hard to miss.”

Just then, Faith came out from Dinky’s room with the filly alongside her. “Hey there. Did you guys call me for something?” That was when Orpheus and Rainbow saw her, despite the fact that she saw them earlier when Dinky tackled Nicko in a case of mistaken Identity.

“... Ok, Didn’t expect that one!” Rainbow shouts.

“Well… Uh… Late congrats man.”

“Thanks. Always appreciated.” Anson replied

“Moving on…” Sakuya says from the corner.

“You had a question, Sakuya?”

“Nah. I’m just bored sitting over here.” Anson sighed. He personally thought that the so called Detective would have more questions for them like what their powers were and what not. But soon, Rainbow was able to fill the void for that.

“Hey, can we see how you two fight!?”

“Rainbow! Why did you… Never mind...” Sakuya mutters.

“Well, you probably already saw how my brother fights…” Anson said. “But, maybe I can explain a little more on how I fight since I’ve learned a LOT about it over the years we were separated. For one thing, my second sword has a name. Conwell. In addition, it has a soul that can talk to me like how Eris talks to Nicko. However, it doesn’t have a physical body.”

“Wow. You HAVE gotten more knowledge. Hope you haven’t gotten rusty.” Orpheus said.

“That’s not the only thing. Conwell allows me to summon multiple swords at once and attack multiple times, but I also have an awakening state where my strength is increased temporarily for 90 seconds at most. Same goes for my brother, but I’ve been practicing.”

Sakuya looked at him with curiosity in her eye. “Interesting..” She mutters.

“I believe though that the one I want to see fight though… is Faith actually.” Anson said, surprising everyone in the room, including his daughter.

“Well, Actually, How does she fight?” Thanatos asked, looking down. Instead of saying anything, Faith put both of her hands by her ears and snapped her fingers. Her earrings glowed and soon, both of the drones that served as her companions and her guardians took form in front of them. Putting a new terminology to the phrase “Digistruct” as they soon took in the surrounding setting. Even Dinky was quite surprised.

“With my partners.”

“Greetings.” Both Moby and Remy spoke, startling Sakuya and Twilight.

“Robots… Or are they Magical… Construct thingies?” Sakuya starts

“And where can I get one?” Orpheus finishes.

“The proper term you’re looking for is Drone, Sir.” Moby said. “We are a pair of Nasod drones that were created to serve any purpose for Lady Faith. We are her teachers as we are her tools.”

“Dangit…” Orpheus mutters.

“Still on the search for a Tom?” Twilight asked.

He sadly nodded. Somewhere a certain Marshmallow pony is blushing intensely. Soon, Moby and Remy pulled up a series of screens that allowed for everypony to see what powers she was capable of as well as footage of her other encounters in some of the other worlds. Rainbow though, was personally impressed by the hyperactive skill that she could pull off named Lunatic Scud.

“Impressive!” She shouted.

“Why thank you. I still have a long way to go to learn everything, but I’m glad to hear your support. It’s quite encouraging.” Faith told her.

“I’ve actually got some questions on the topic of “Displaced”. Nicko mentioned it earlier and Twilight explained to the best of her ability. I just wanted to know what your Equestria was like.” Sakuya states.

“Well, the ponies in our world are anthropomorphic and Celestia has a brother instead of a sister named Artemis. So…… that’s a thing.”

“Now I really wish I still had my notebook.. Twi, can I borrow one?” Sakuya asked.

Twilight moves a pad of paper and a quill over as she plucks it from the air.

“Also, the first encounter that they had with a Displaced was our parents.”

“You mean Grandma Ciela and Grandpa Luke?” Faith asked out of curiosity.

“Yep, those are the ones.” Anson said. Out of curiosity, he asked Moby a question. “Hey Moby. Do you have a visual on the two people I just mentioned?” The Drone nodded, soon pulling up an image of the two of them from when he last remembered his parents.

“Of course, they weren’t like this back then… Instead, they looked like this before they got diminished of their old set of powers.” Again, Moby changed the image.

“In fact, when Celestia and Artemis were younger, they served as bodyguards and caretakers for the two of them.”

“Woah.” Twilight simply sighed.

“Don’t. Even. Think about it.” Orpheus said, getting up and swatting Twilight before she could do anything.

“However, when we last saw them, we were six years old. When the two of us were eighteen, we saw them again, but it lead to an all out brawl between both Mom and Nicko before she realized that it was her son. She had not seen her children in 1000 years after all.”

“Wow. That’s deep.” Rainbow mutters, looking away. Nicko assumed that the Pegasus had learned that from Orpheus again, before looking at his brother. “Well, if there’s no further questions, then we should get going soon. You know… before Pinkie Pie throws Sakuya a party for coming to Ponyville.”

“Wait what-?”

“Did somepony say… PARTY?!”

“Damn it, Nicko. You just had to jinx it.” Anson sighed… “Well, maybe we should go after the party. We are guests after all.”

“Ooh! We have more interdimensional guests?! That’s the first ones in… A month!” Pinkie shouts.

“Would you like some help?” Faith asked her.

“Thanks!” Pinkie said before darting off. Faith herself just looked puzzled at her father as she looked around the room. “So… was that suppose to be a yes or what? Because that just confused me.”

“Just roll with it.” Orpheus mutters. Anson himself, snickered, surprised to see that the Persona actually said the same saying he said earlier.

“Oh yeah Rainbow, You’ll probably want to head back earlier from the party before the Tartarus crash gets you…” He said, rubbing his eyes.

“Psh! I dominated that tower!”

“I don’t think he meant it like-.” THUD!!! “-that…” Now Rainbow was passed out on the floor, asleep.

“Wait, She just slept off a hangover, How’d that work?!” Thanatos yelled.

“Meh. Tartarus works in weird ways.” His brother retorted. “Don’t question it.”

“Ok… then.”

The party that occurred later was one of the biggest that Pinkie Pie had ever thrown yet so far. Filled with treats and games galore plus much much more. With the amount of ponies that had arrived for the celebration, Spike and Twilight had only one… collective answer for all the guests that were there attending the party at that current moment. Which sounded rather profane at that moment in time, but also necessary so she could let off some much needed steam since some ponies started bringing in cameras and recording devices.

“HOW THE BUCK DID YOU PONIES GET IN MY HOUSE!!?!”

“I wonder the exact same thing everyday…” Thanatos sighed, retreating upstairs for some much needed sleep. Later, Nicko and the others said their final goodbyes before returning to their Equestria. But not without saying goodbye to little miss Dinky. Who now, despite losing her father in the unknown fire that had occurred months before, now was part of a family that she was glad to have. Reuniting with her mother and now being able to have an older sister.

Meanwhile… (Back in their world)

In the remains of what was left of the castle inside the Everfree Forest, an unknown figure stood amongst the cold ruins of what was left. She watched from a distance as two brothers and a young girl returned to the Castle of Friendship. Smiling now, she turned around to a hooded figure that also appeared to be human. But in a suit of armor.

“You called me, Amelia?”

“Yes… Yes I did… Arma, I have a target for you.”

The armored figure put a mask on over his face as he took out the two weapons that were in his holsters and spun the barrels to make sure that they were functioning properly.

“Who do you want me to kill, my lady?”

“Not exactly kill, Arma… But test… You see… did I ever tell you about my brother?” The girl asked him. The Chaser nodded. “Many times, Ms. Amelia. In fact, you told me that he was less of a brother and more of an arrogant, power hungry sociopath who was also extremely annoying as he was sexist…”

“Yes…… that…” she said, reflecting on the moments in her childhood where he pushed her around as a kid. “Well, with him out of the picture, it’s up to me to complete his plans. And now that the one who defeated him all those years ago has returned, it provides us a perfect opportunity for us to know what the enemy is capable of. You may think that we already know about what the red haired brats can do… But I was referring to someone else.”

“Someone else?” Arma asked. “If I may ask, who is that someone?”

“You see the girl?” She asked, presenting an image with one of her weapons. “She, as it turns out, is the daughter of the one who killed my brother. Which also means that she is relatively new to this world and also new to the abilities she possess. Also, I believe that later on, she’ll be the key to our plans being fulfilled depending on what she demonstrates to you. You are allowed to use any means necessary in order to test her. But it also means that you should not slack off either. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Ms. Amelia. I will not let you down.” Arma said before vanishing into the falling snow that was beginning to set in. The girl now smiled, holding out a crystalline pendant that was the color of the void energy that she could control. She soon put it away, only to look out into the white wonderland that was outside.

“Hehe…… Typical for Eric to leave loose ends untied. Well, I better prepare myself for when I see Amy and Rainbow later today.”

Castle of Friendship

“Oh my gosh!! Oh my gosh!! Oh my gosh!! Sonny!!! You’re back!!!” Anson returning alongside Nicko was quite a surprise for everypony that was in the castle at the time. But for Pinkie, it was like her dreams were beginning to come true. Now, she could enjoy being with both the infinity sword and Faithy at the same time.

“Easy Pinkie. I did just get here.”

“Aww… But I want to celebrate your return with a party!”

“Anson will need some time to get familiar first. But Pinkie, can you do me a favor and keep an eye on Faith for a little bit please?” Nicko asked. “I need to talk to him… Brother to Brother.”

“Okie Dokie Nicky!!” The Party Pony bounced off as the Rune Slayer pulled off his brother to the side.

“What’s up?” Anson asked.

“Well, a lot of things have happened before I met you and I was thinking something… I need some advice.”

“Okay, ask away-.”

“Not advice from you, idiot. Advice from someone else. Before seeing you, I was only recently released from stone and even though that I still know how to fight and everything, I find that I always get myself in a situation where it might end with someone I know getting hurt. Hell, I had to snap Jade out of a blood rage and almost ended up killing myself in the process.”

Anson thought this through… then asked a new question to him. “Okay, who did you have in mind?”

“My teacher. He was the one that told me how to use my spells in new ways I never thought I could before. Maybe he might have some more suggestions for me on how I can improve.”

“Okay, and I’m assuming that he is a Displaced as well?” Nicko nods, answering his brothers question for him. “Well, if you're going, I’m going too.”

“But what about Faith-?”

“She can take care of herself. Plus, Pinkie Pie is looking after her. I trust her to make sure to keep her safe. Besides… What’s the worst that could happen?”

Nicko thought about it for a moment, then nodded his head in agreement. “Fair point. Alright, let’s do it.”

The two of them went to inform Pinkie of their departure and soon left using the Dragon Tear token that Nicko always kept on hand. Outside though, the figure known as Arma was smiling under the mask that covered his face.

“Opportunity strikes…”

End Log 11

Log 12F- Seraph

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Seraph

Castle of Friendship

Faith was right now trying to lay down and get some much needed rest. She had been through one crazy adventure involving a pair of ponies and a…… Persona? She couldn’t quite remember the name correctly since she was only twelve years of age, but didn’t really care at this point. Fortunately, for her now, she had the opportunity to meet Dinky Hooves. The one filly that her father had mentioned that she had as an imaginary friend throughout most of her life. Now, she wasn’t so imaginary after all since her dad allowed the two of them to be sisters.

Speaking of dad’s, her father had left with her uncle to go meet someone while she had spent her time resting, leaving Pinkie Pie and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to look after her. However, most of the time that this took place was with Faith resting in her room, leaving Pinkie and the girls to pass the time by messing around with Spike in the kitchen. For the Code Queen though, she herself had a return visitor.

Moments after laying down, she had seen a black wisp begin to take form behind her in the corner of the room. Soon, she heard a recognizable voice. “Hello again, young one…”

“Mr. Wraith!” Faith replied with glee. She wanted to hug the wisp, but then remembered that since it did not have a real body, she couldn’t do so. “It's great to see you again.”

“You too as well.” The shadow replied. “I never really had the opportunity to thank you yet for your advice the last time we met.”

Faith complimented the wraith, personally surprised that a suggestion of hers was able to help whoever this… thing was. Speaking of which, she never asked for his name! “Excuse me, Mister.”

“Yes, child?”

“What is your name?”

The room fell silent for a minute. The Black wisp was unsure if she should share this piece of information to the youngling given who he was and all the bad things he had done while he was alive. But then again, she had helped him a lot and had learned from her. He couldn’t just ignore her question.

“I had been called many things over the years that I had been alive… But, you may call me Sombra.” He told her. “Can you just keep this between us though?”

“Why, Mr. Sombra?” Faith asked, confused by the Wraith’s wishes.

“Over the years I’ve been alive, my name has gained a bad reputation for the things I have done while I was consumed by greed and power. Thanks to you, I’m beginning to turn a new leaf, but I don’t think that anypony else would think so. After all, only you can see me.” Sombra explained as calmly and carefully as possibly, not trying to confuse her. The Code Queen understood partially what the shadow meant, but didn’t care really about the stuff she didn’t understand.

“Hey, Sombra?”

“Yes?”

“If you don’t have anywhere else to go, then why don’t you stay with me?” Faith offered. “I know that my uncle allows Eris to be in his body and only I can see you. Plus, it’s a lot better than wandering around on your own with no one to talk to.”

Now the fallen king was surprised by this girl’s suggestion. Normally, these circumstances would have a dark entity like himself possess her. But, this girl was different. If the Spawn of Discord was able to try something like this and succeed, then he might be just as successful if he gave it a shot.

“Okay, but let me warn you, this might sting a little. Before we begin though, let me ask you something… Your name is Faith, right?” The girl nodded her head in response. “Faith, thank you for your kindness and generosity. It means a lot to me.”

Sombra soon faded away, turning into air that Faith breathed in as the fallen king was now a part of the code queen. He lost all the power that he once had when he lost his physical body, but the wraith still had his knowledge and he could be a guide to this young girl. It was a way for him to seek forgiveness without having to show himself to the Princess of the land. But upon entering the girl, he discovered a few things. Things that Faith herself didn’t know about. But before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door as a young earth pony mare walked in.

“Hey there, Faith.”

“Hey Applebloom. How are you?”

“Doing good. I was going to ask the girls if they wanted to walk around Ponyville, but Sweetie Belle has to help her sister and Scootaloo is practicing her swordsmanship with Amy so I wanted to ask if you could come along.” The Wind Sneaker was dressed up in comfortable winter attire that included a knitted scarf and sweater, each one with an apple sewn on it to represent the Apple Family. She kept her crossbow mounted on her wrist for if trouble were to occur, but given that it had been peaceful for the past few days, the earth pony saw it as unlikely for anything crazy to happen.

“Sure thing. I was kind of getting bored with sitting around here and resting. Plus, it would be good to get a walk in.” Faith told the earth pony mare as the two of them began to walk out of the Castle of Friendship and go around town. While walking though, Sombra felt like something was watching them with every step Faith took and every move she made. Soon though, as the two of them came out to an open field to the edge of town, that thing made it’s move. Jumping from the rooftops with weapons drawn.

‘Faith, behind you!!’

The Code Nemesis turned around to see who was going at them and to be quick enough to move Applebloom out of it’s line of fire.

“BULLET BLITZ!!”

The Assailant’s gunshots chased the two of them down as Faith was just barely able to use her spear blades to stop the bullets in their path. But who this individual was… That was another story. It looked nothing like a pony and more like a human. But it was hard to tell because of the mask on it’s face and the hood that covered it’s head. It had a cannon strapped to it’s back, but mostly seemed to be trusting it’s two pistols that it was holding.

“Who the hay is this guy and why is he attacking us!?” Applebloom asked Faith.

“I have no idea. Have you tried asking him?”

“… Good idea. Hey, hooded guy, why are you attacking us-!?”

Her comment was again interrupted by another gunshot, this time just bare inches away from the Mare’s legs. “Less talking, more fighting. My business isn’t with you, Earth Pony. Leave… Now.”

“Like Hay ah am!! This became my business the moment you attack my friend!!!” Applebloom snarled, priming her crossbow. “Now you’re just asking for me to kick your flank!!”

“Suit yourself.” The gunslinger said with a sharp tone as he reloaded his guns. “Let me warn you though, I don’t show mercy when I fight. So you two are in for a world of hurt.” A quick click was heard before the shooter aimed his weapons and opened fired. Applebloom herself quickly fired multiple crossbow bolts and coughed up some of the light snow on the ground to try and blind her opponent. She was going to go in for a powerful Drop kick, but was soon greeted by the enemy’s gauntlet holding one of his pistols in the air as her hoof made contact with his face.

“Sharpshooter Syndrome.”

Without warning, a burst of azure energy surrounded the Gunslinger, throwing Applebloom backwards as she violently slammed into a tree. “And that’s why the gun is mightier than the bow. Too bad she didn’t learn her lesson…… Now then, since we don’t have anything us that might interrupt us, you’re next.”

Applebloom’s attack did do one thing though. Leave behind a crack on the assailant’s mask as it crumbled away. But the hood of the gunslinger still covered his face. Faith brought out both Moby and Remy as quickly as possible the moment she laid eyes on him, activating Atomic Shield to provide her a temporary cover while she attended to her friend.

“Moby, is Applebloom okay?”

“For the most part. Unconscious, but mostly stable. Just a couple of broken ribs besides minor cuts and scrapes.”

“That’s good to hear… Now… Remy, what do we know about our enemy?”

“His armor is composed of the same materials as your spears, but seems to be only affected by Kinetic energy.” Remy relayed the information to her as the shield began to weaken. “I don’t have time to analyze him further. We’re going to need a plan of attack and fast before we get blown to pieces.”

It wasn’t enough time though. Faith’s shield faded away as the girl was knocked backwards by the shockwave of an incoming cannon blast. Whoever this person was, they were quick. Focusing on trying to smash her with his cannon, hands, and revolvers as he assaulted Faith with barrage after barrage of cannonfire, bullets and attacks. He was pushing her into a corner. Soon though, the Code Queen pushed her opponent away by activating her Iron Scraps ability in midair and sending metal shards outward like shrapnel. Sound of those shards cut into the hood of the opponent and tore it away. Revealing the person’s head. Both Faith and Sombra were equally shocked to see that this individual was not a pony at all, but instead, it was a human.

“Well that’s a first. Nopony has ever been able to remove the cover on my face before. That takes guts… and skill.”

“A-another human!? W-who are you?!” Faith asked, startled when the Chaser that was a couple years younger than her uncle talked to her.

“Who I am should not your most major concern. That concern should be how you’ll survive this fight.”

Faith did not have a lot of options at this point. She was beginning to tire out and most of her previous skills have been ineffective at dealing any sufficient damage to him. So the code queen did the only option that she had on her mind. Run. If she called for Sweetie Belle’s help or Scootaloo’s, more people will end up getting hurt and she did not want that for anypony. As she began running though, Sombra began speaking to her.

‘Why did you run!? You can still fight-!’

“No, I can’t. More ponies would get hurt if I tried to call for help-.”

‘I’m not talking about you needing backup. I’m talking about you needing a backup plan. And you have one.’

“I… do?”

‘Being in your mind allows me to look at all the knowledge that you have locked away in here. While peaking around, I found out that your body works like a device called a computer and changing the Source Code allows you to change your abilities.’

“Can you please explain that a little differently? I don’t get what you’re talking about.” Faith told Sombra, leading him to abruptly sigh.

‘Think of it like you’re changing different pairs of clothes. These other clothes allow you to change what you're capable of and how you can fight back.’

Faith looked at Moby and Remy, who was also hearing what Sombra was saying because of the Neurolink that was established with the Jewel on her forehead. Speaking of that Jewel, for Sombra’s plan to work, Faith had to manually put in a command into her own source code so the changes could take effect. She had a limited amount of time though as her pursuer soon saw her. Activating Atomic Shield again, Faith began to follow the mental instructions from the follow king as a holo screen popped up in front of her

⇒ Input command: SourceCode_Change_Mainframe:

⇒ Authorization code: Seraph

Code accepted, Engaging transformation.

Faith’s body soon became enveloped in a blanket of light as the shield faded away and the two drones by her side were also covered by the same light. The brightness and intensity of the flash caused her attacker to shield his eyes, only lowering his arm when the light began to fade. Electricity now crackled in the air as Faith emerged in her new form. She was no longer a Nemesis…

But a Battle Seraph.

“You dare try to harm my friends and you WILL get hurt.” She hollered as the Code Queen set out a few new devices that the Deadly Chaser had not seen before as they lined up and formed a miniature red triangle. Soon, Faith placed her index finger on it and fired a single Particle Ray. That one blast though soon grew to where the beam would’ve blown his head off if he wasn’t careful. However, this new Faith wasn’t done yet. In fact, she was far from it as the color of her shields began to change and more electricity surged around her body, beginning to take the form of wings.

“ENERGETIC HEART!!”

Soon, the Battle Seraph was using her fingers as sights and taking aim at the Deadly Chaser like how he was taking aim at her only moments before. Beam met bullet as the projectiles cancelled each other out. However, when Faith did another Particle Ray, the shields reaction to it caused it to split into multiple shots that fired in a few different directions. When she was going to strike him at a closer range, she heard her opponent speak only one word.

“Parlay.”

‘Faith stop!!’

She did, but did not know why she had too. ‘Why?’

‘The word he used is a code term used by the pirates of Horseshoe Bay. It calls for neither side to harm each other until negotiations are complete and attacking him would be disrespectful.’

“You did quite well, Miss. In fact, I was only attacking you to see what you were truly capable of.” The gunslinger holstered his weapons and strapped his cannon on his back as he spoke.

“Wait a minute…… So all this… was to test me!?”

“I was asked to see how strong you were if you had to resort to combat-.”

“WHO asked-!?”

“I can not say.” The Chaser said. “But, your friend should be waking up soon, so I’ll leave you with this. I hope you find it useful.” The assailant soon left, leaving Faith with what appeared to be a Crystalline diamond that was shaped like a crescent moon. There was a note attached to it too.

Stay Safe, fellow traveler.

-Arma

“Arma? Is that the guys name?” Faith asked herself as she pocketed the item and returned back into her Code:Nemesis form. She and Sombra were quite exhausted and needed some time to sleep.

Later

Faith pawed at the crescent ornament as she tossed it up into the air, before having it come back down for her to catch in her laid down position along the couch. Boredom had struck her. But she was also puzzled. Even though this seemed like an ordinary crystal, something told her otherwise and it was tempting her to mess around with it. Soon though, she looked at it alongside the orb that she had received from the Dragon she called ‘Nelly’. Something told her that the two objects could be somehow related.

All that was needed was something to prove it. Like a special kind of test. She tried her best to remember how Uncle Nicko had used tokens to conjure a portal in from of him time and time again and was right now doing her best to replicate the process. Faith felt that she was getting somewhere when she saw the crystal glow. But when the Portal appeared, it slowly began to pull her like a black hole.

“Nonononono!! This wasn’t what was suppose to happen-!”

Faith never had the chance to finish her sentence as she fell into the portal and it closed behind her, leaving the room completely empty.

Somewhere in the Dream World…

The dream world a place where the minds of those who sleep go. While the strangeness of this world is known to many it's however not as volatile as it is now. Any other time the night ruler would help along with other forces in the dreams to rid the nightmares however the thing currently within this world was causing the nightmares to manifest all over.

“Note to self never get hit by that rainbow ray.” The entity appeared as a Anthro Nightmare Moon and whoever saw her would be right to a point but this was actually a displaced, infused with her powers.

As she flew through the strange currents the nightmares within the dreams started to appear with some of them jumping out of each dream. “If I wasn’t still weakened form whatever happened I would leave so this could stop but I can’t.”

That was when she saw something… different inside of the world of dreams. A human girl. Lying face down on the ground in the distance and was just barely starting to get up.

“Wait what's going on?” She hadn’t seen another human in a thousand years. With that she floated down as a wisp of smoke. Appearing next to the girl. “Hello?”

The girl looked up, directly at the individual who spoke. “W-who’s there?” Even for a moment, Nightmare could hear the girl whisper to herself “Sombra, where are we?”. It didn’t take her long for her to see the Alicorn. But seeing the being caused her to back up in fright. Probably due to Nightmare’s beautiful, yet intimidating appearance.

“Where did you come from? I haven’t seen another human in a thousand years.” Nightmare could realize her the girl was a bit scared. “Its it ok, I’m well Nightmare Moon now.” She said looking herself over. The now part made in clear she wasn’t originally Nightmare Moon.

But Faith herself had no clue who this “Nightmare Moon” was. All she was in was a timid state of fear, causing her to drop the Moon like crystal that she had in her hands.

Nightmare Moon, however, recognized the crystal it fell out from her dress a while back in the castle of the two sisters. “Wait I remember this! I lost it from my dress.” Appearing was the elegant dress she was wearing for a thousand years and right there one of her necklaces the crystal fit. This Nightmare Moon… was a Displaced!

“T-this is yours?” The Girl spoke softly. “I-i’m sorry. I didn’t know it belonged to you-!”

“Its not your fault I really could have handled leaving the Moon better though and handled Luna a lot better.” Nightmare said with a blush.

“Who’s Luna?”

“The Princess of Equestria? Raiser of the Moon and the Lady of the night?”

“Uhh…… Do you mean Prince Artemis?” The girl asked, trying to calm herself down, but still a little scared. “He’s the Prince of the night and raises the moon where I-i’m from.”

Nightmare was honestly not expecting this. “Wait there is other Equestria’s? Wait so your world everyone is genderswapped?”

“W-what? No! What do you mean!? Oh dear Celestia, calm down Faith… You’re stressing out again…” The girl, named Faith, had to take a few moments to pull herself together before finally being able to speak clearly. “Where I’m from, Celestia had a brother named Artemis instead of a Sister. Besides that though, there aren't a lot of differences. They’re even in the same two legged form as you are.”

“That terminology is known as Anthropomorphic, Faith.” Moby told her as both he and Remy formed by her side to help her.

Now it was Nightmares turn to be confused by this. “Ok then so how are you here? You didn’t run so fast you broke into another dimension or did you end up in this universe by accident?” The three looked at each other, this woman turn mare didn’t know about the displaced?

“Wait… You don’t know about the Displaced?” Faith asked, a little bit surprised given the current situation. “Like at all?”

“What in the world is Displaced?” Nightmare asked. “Is that something like what I am?” She asked, pointing to herself.

“Well… How should I put this? …… Yes and no. Yes, it is; but no, it’s not just you. There are more than one Displaced out in the world, many of them in their own different worlds or versions of Equestria. I’ve met a few already alongside my Uncle, but I haven’t really met one on my own before. But let me introduce myself before you ask anymore questions. I’m Faith Nocte. Nice to meet you.” The Code Queen greeted, bowing before Nightmare as a gesture of kindness.

“Well Nightmare Moon, I guess I have to ask how you got here and also how far in equestria you are because I kinda am Nightmare Moon so I’m basically at season one.” Nightmare said listing her two biggest.

“I don’t know what you mean by seasons, but I can answer your other question. I believe I got here because of that crystal of yours. You know… the one that fell off your dress?” Faith said to her. “I believe it might be a token.”

Nightmare held it in her hand and was a bit confused. “So this got you to my universe? A simple gem? Wow.” Nightmare said as she wondered how that was even possible.

“Well, a token allows you call upon a Displaced and have you summon them or summon yourself TO them. I was trying to see if it had such properties, but next thing I know, I wake up in this place.” Faith sigh. “For example, this is mine.” The Code Queen held out her token, the Nemesis Blade. In Elsword, any player that was a Code Exotic that didn’t want to wait forever to change job classes could use the item to automatically advance to their second job. It would fit quite well alongside Nightmare’s current choice of… attire.

The extra charm that Faith gave to her was strung around a small metallic chain that would normally be seen to hang dog tags in the army. But it still served well as a good pendant to wear around her neck. “Using it allows you to call upon me for help and, with a little bit of practice, you can explore my Equestria as well. Again though, you may need some experience beforehand with it before you try anything crazy.

Nightmare Moon handed Faith the crystal back. “Thanks I guess you have to head home… How do we do that?” Nightmare Moon asked. Knew how back it seems her token wasn’t working right. “Do I need to get you out of the dream world first?” Nightmare Moon asked.

“What Dream world?”

“This dream world.” She said, all around them were nightmares and dreams creatures.

“This is a Dream World? I didn’t know that. I wonder if Sombra knew about such a place?” Suddenly, due to the worlds effects, a black stallion soon appeared next to Faith with a long robe like the robe of a king.

“Did you seriously had to do that?” came the familiar voice.

“Sombra!!”

Nightmare reacted by summoning up a long Black blade out of no were. “Sombra! Stand back!” Nightmare got ready to attack.

“Whoa whoa whoa!! Hey, put the blade down Moony. I’m not who you think I am.” Sombra retorted, backing up a little. However, what was surprising to Nightmare moon is when she saw Faith step in front of him.

“Don’t you DARE hurt him!!”

“Are you mad!? That’s Sombra, the season three villain and the crystal empire tyrant ruler!” Nightmare said, Sombra wondered what season three was. “Are you telling me he good in your reality?”

“No…” He said. “I’m not… I made terrible mistakes that I continue to regret. I had a family and I had a kingdom. The ponies that lived there loved me. But to protect them, I made a choice. One that I regret for the rest of my life. When I went away, my daughter Umbra took over my tyrannical reign, sickening me even more. The empire is free now, but I live with the mistakes of the past that I have made. Faith though… had helped me become a better pony. I want to help those in need now… Become a kind king.”

Nightmare gave a sigh. “You know, I have the feeling that I may have also changed my ways in Equestria.” She unsummoned the sword. “Luna became Nightmare Moon in this universe but instead of being banished the nightmare half merged with me on the moon, and Celestia exiled herself. I don't know if she rules Equestria with or if Luna been forced to rule alone.”

“It seems we’ve all been through some hardships.” Faith said. “But if I have learned anything from my friends recently, it’s that we can’t get past obstacles by looking behind us. To move forward, we need to look forward and be supportive of each other. If Luna is alone… do your best to help her. Let her know that she isn’t alone and that you have her back.”

“Help her with her responsibilities.” Sombra added on. “A workload for a Princess can be overwhelming… and one day, you can help bring Celestia back and show how you have changed. How you’re not the same as before.”

Nightmare gave a blush. “Well perhaps but you see while I’m not technically the person I did merge with those thing and plus….” She stopped herself. That secret must never been known. There was a child right there. She whispered a bit into Sombra hear without Faith hearing.

“Oh my… that is… something.”

“What is it?” Faith asked

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.” Sombra ensured her. “But in that situation… You should express to her your feelings. So how much you care for Luna. I believe she’ll understand you. Take it from somepony’s who’s had experience.”

Nightmare gave a blush. “Thanks… Listen are you really going to explain to her that.” Sombra whispered in her ears.

“If I did her mom will come at me.”

“Then explain to her the truth. Nothing can go wrong if you tell her that.”

Nightmare turned to Faith. “So I think you too should go however,” She took the crystal and it glowed as did the resther tokens. “This should allow you to enter and exit the dream world as well as call on me.”

“So does that mean I can talk to you in my dreams?” Faith asked. Nightmares response was a nod as Faith used the crystal to leave the dream realm. “Hey, Nightmare? Can I ask for two more of these? I want to give them to my father and Uncle when I get back.”

Nightmare Though for a moment how to do that when two more crystals formed in her hands. “Well here you go.”

“Thanks! Next time, maybe I’ll have them come visit with me.” Faith finished her sentence as Sombra returned to the girl’s body and the two of them left through the doorway she created. Faith’s last sentence still rang inside Nightmare’s head a little though.

“Did I just make a friend?”

Turn’s out, it seemed like she answered her own question. Because it wasn’t long until Nightmare realized where she was. And who was standing right behind her. Turning around, the Alicorn was staring face to face with no other than Luna herself. The Night princess had seen Faith’s departure, but had not seen King Sombra with her. Now, it was just the Two Alicorns that represented the moon in the Canterlot garden, looking at each other with the moon shining bright overhead.

Alone…

Back in Equestria…

Faith had a very interesting day if she were to describe it as such. She had fun with her friends and got the chance to make some new friends as well. As she prepared to drift off into her own slumber, she was seen with a smile on her face.

She was going to have sweet dreams tonight.

End Log 12F

Log 12- Guidance part 1

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Of Magic and Machines- Guidance Part 1

Canterlot

Weeks had passed since the Hearth’s Warming Eve. It was a day that hardly anypony in Canterlot would ever forget soon.

Two creatures that stood on their hind legs and looked like ponies suddenly appeared on stage after the play. Then another bipedal creature appeared and attacked the first two; that was Ryu. The princesses had tried to stop the fight, but they lost after Ryu subdued them using his psionic skill and attacking their minds. Something that took some days for the princesses to recover from.

It was after that, however, that Ryu came to a realization. He turned his eyes away from his rage and, for the first time, truly looked at Myria’s past.

Myria was a goddess and, more than that, one of the Endless. She was summoned to grant the wishes of her summoners, but they fought over her power and blamed her for the near destruction of their world, the Dragon Clan’s world.

She was sealed away and demonized by very dragons that summoned her. At the time of her release, she tried once again to fulfill her purpose, only to be denied yet again and be seen as the monster that the Dragon Clan had proclaimed her as.

Now, Ryu sat on the bed in Canterlot Castle’s medical wing. He had been staring at his hands before he looked out of the window. Something in him had changed.

It’s been two months since the Hearth’s Warming event, and Ryu had only been awake for a week. Several had immediately noticed the change.

He was smiling more, and was far kinder to everypony else. He had apologized to Rainbow Dash for all the harsh words that he had said, shocking everyone at how sincere he sounded. He had even forgiven the princesses for what happened all those years ago.

He was different; A new man.

But Applejack didn’t like it.

She’d been so happy when he finally woke up. His magic core had severely depleted, and it was a miracle that he was still alive. She lost her smile, however, the first time he graced her with his new smile.

She didn’t like this new uncle Rahy. At all.

Most of his friends, however, thought otherwise. It was refreshing how he would smile more often now; kind and gentle. Unlike how he was now, he used to look bored at everything, and only seem to gain some cheer when he was around Applejack or anyone that he considered family.

The old Ryu was a jerk. There was no other way of putting it.

Ryu stared out of the window and smile at the clear blue skies. Even after two months, there were still some parts of his body that tingled from the phantom pain, and some parts of his body was feeling more numb than the rest.

The pony doctor has said that he was fine, and that there were no nerve damage. Still, even now, even when he keeps poking at his legs, the response that he’d get would always seem hollow, like he was tapping artificial skin that was on top of his own.

Still, that didn’t stop his smile. When he woke up, it was like a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt lighter, emotionally.

He lost his cheer, and every other emotion, however, when he delved inside his body.

His Dragon Genes were gone. All of them.

From his Flame gene all the way to Infinity, they were gone. Nothing was left, and along with them were his other dragon characteristics.

His superhuman strength was gone, his enhanced senses, his durability, the potency of his elemental magic, and he even lost the ability to eat gems. His teeth just could not cut through them, and he almost choked when he tried to swallow one.

He was human again.

But with magic.

And he couldn’t be any happier.

He didn't have to fear losing control anymore. There was no more great power inside him, waiting to cut loose, where even the slightest mistake could wipe out an entire town just by sneezing wrong.

He was free from the burden; free from the responsibility. He was free.

But there was a nagging voice in the back of his head whenever he’s alone, telling him to look for the genes before something bad happens. He’s been ignoring that voice, and continued to do so, even today.

For now, though, he had better things to think about. He noticed Applejack being more subdued in her interactions with him. He wasn’t blind to not see the looks that she’s been giving him. Much as he wanted to do something about it, however, he just didn’t know how.

He was happy now. It would only get better as soon as Applejack starts treating him like normal. He missed holding his niece/daughter figure.

Meanwhile…

“I need some advice.” Was the first this that Anson heard from Nicko once the two of them had returned from Orpheus’ world.

“Okay, ask away-.”

Anson thought this through… then asked a new question to him. “Okay, who did you have in mind?”

“My teacher. He was the one that told me how to use my spells in new ways I never thought I could before. Maybe he might have some more suggestions for me on how I can improve.”

“Okay, and I’m assuming that he is a Displaced as well?” Nicko nods, answering his brothers question for him. “Well, if you're going, I’m going too.”

“But what about Faith-?”

“She can take care of herself. Plus, Pinkie Pie is looking after her. I trust her to make sure to keep her safe. Besides… What’s the worst that could happen?”

Nicko thought about it for a moment, then nodded his head in agreement. “Fair point. Alright, let’s do it.”

After informing the Baker Pony about where the two of them were going and letting Eris stay behind so she could rest her tired body, Nicko began the process of being summoned by his teacher. Unlike other tokens, where they served as keys to that world’s doorway, Ryu’s worked differently. The Rune Slayer’s thoughts had to be heard by the Elder Dragon in order for him to be summoned by him.

‘Ryu. It’s me, your student. Nicko. I want to get the chance to talk to you and see how you have been. For me, I haven’t seen you in a LONG time. But I’ll inform you on the details later. Right now though, I hope you can hear my thoughts and allow my brother Anson, along with myself; entry into your world.’

Ryu looked up from his bed. He chuckled at Nicko’s greeting, and reached up to the desk beside his bed, where his pouch was located. He took out Nicko’s token and flared what little magic he had at the moment.

“From my world I call out to thee; my pupil, my friend, come here to me. With thy kin by thine side, he may come along for the ride. To come to this world of mine, you have my blessing. Let’s see what troubles you, my friend, that needs my addressing.”

The bedridden Displaced laughed to himself and levitated his pupil’s token in the middle of the room, just in case his entry might be violent.

After using his token, the Rune Slayer soon stepped through a Doorway like portal that surfaced in the room along with another figure. His student now wore a new set of garments that included a Red Overcoat, Black shirt and pants and had a new sword to go along with it. The other figure, which he assumed to be his brother was sporting a Black overcoat with a red undershirt and black pants and boots. Unlike Nicko though, this one carried two blades with him and his red hair resembled the spikes of a hedgehog. This must’ve been Anson, the brother that his student mentioned.

“Hello, Nicko.” Ryu greeted his student, smiling as he took in his new student’s new changes.

Nicko though, was a bit surprised by a few things. First off, the smile and sudden politeness was unlike the Elder Dragon that he met last time that he was here. Second was the fact that his skin was a LOT paler than he last remembered and it wasn’t until after noticing the surrounding area that he realized that his teacher was inside the bed of a hospital room.

“Holy crap, are you okay? You look like you got your soul sucked out of you.”

“It’s nothing; just some trouble on my end of the multiverse.” Ryu replied to his student’s concerns.

“Well, if there’s anything that we could do to help, I think Anson and I can pitch in if you need some help with anything.” His brother agreed with him, saying that any friend of Nicko’s was a friend of his and that he would gladly lend his sword to help out Ryu.

Despite being amused by the two of them and them insisting on helping him, Ryu shook his head and declined their offer. “I still stand by my decision, Nicko. My world, my problem.” He told his student, now looking at Anson. “I take it that this is your brother? The resemblance is quite uncanny.”

Nicko himself was quite surprised by his teacher’s choice of words. It was far from what the Ryu he knew would say. He was a lot… calmer and less of Ryu being… Well, Ryu. Normally, Nicko saw him as a Hardass, but Wise teacher that helped Nicko wake up and realize that being a Displaced was not all fun and games. It was survival against whatever was thrown at you.

His brother though, never knew this and just greeted him casually. “It’s nice to meet you, Ryu. I’m Anson, Nicko’s brother and an Infinity Sword.”

“A pleasure to meet you, then, Anson.” Ryu nodded. Anson had an interesting title. He wondered how much he lived up to the name, though.

“Hey, are you okay Ryu?” Nicko asked “You seem a lot… different from the last time we’ve met. Are you sure that the doctors didn’t give you too many painkillers?” The Rune Slayer asked out of concern.

Ryu chuckled kindly and shook his head. “I’m not on painkillers, since there no pain at all to suppress.” he grinned at Nicko; a very childish and bright smile. “Let’s just say that I no longer have to carry a heavy burden anymore.”

Nicko’s reaction to this wasn’t exactly what Ryu thought it would be. Due to the Rune Slayer’s Autism, Nicko wasn’t one to adjust to change really well. He was a LOT more comfortable with the old Ryu than this…… Whatever the hell this was. Was it painkillers that were secretly slipped into him? A mind control spell? He didn’t know, but he did not like this new Ryu. He wanted the old one back.

Ryu hummed, seeing the expression on Nicko’s face. “I’m really fine, Nicko. Really, I couldn’t be any better. So, please, stop worrying for my sake.”

“You know, Nicko’s told me a LOT about you and I gotta say, you’re quite different from what I thought you would be.” Anson remarked, folding his arms and looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

Ryu gave him an awkward smile, looking at Nicko before turning back to Anson. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, for one thing, he told me that you were a great teacher despite the ‘methods’ that you used to instruct him. He even told me about you being able to turn into a dragon because of the title you carry. Being an Elder Dragon must come with a lot of responsibilities if you ask me.” Unknowingly to Anson, he didn’t realize in that moment that the door of the room was beginning to creek open as Applejack stepped inside.

“Uncle, are ya ok-?”

The mare was shocked to find two unknown figures inside the same room that her uncle Rahyu was in. But what really caught her attention was that they had weapons. Her mind went back to that day on Hearth’s Warming eve, and remembered the state her uncle was left in at the end.

“Get away from him!”

Applejack stormed into the room, knocking the Rune Slayer onto the other hospital bed and tried to buck the Infinity Sword as well.

Ryu tried to call out to Applejack, to tell her that Nicko and Anson meant no harm, but another jolt of pain ran through his body. His muscles locked and he grabbed onto his chest with a gasp. Even after two months, his body still remembers the horrible pain that he went through.

Anson himself, despite the situation, drew one of his swords and used it to block the incoming pair of hooves while using the blunt side of his blade to knock the Earth Pony down with a Fatal Slap. Nicko tried to attend to Ryu, seeing him clutch in pain, but instead, he was shoved to the aside.

“What the hell were you thinking!?” Ryu yelled, fearing for Applejack as he saw her make contact with Anson’s sword. Even if it was only the blunt side, his heart rate still soared after seeing Applejack go down.

“Hey, I reacted in self defense!” Anson countered Ryu’s statement. “Plus, I only used the blunt side of my blade so nopony could get hurt!!”

Despite the Infinity sword’s claims, it was heard on deaf ears by the time that a Rainbow Maned pegasus swooped in and saw her friend getting up off the floor and Ryu in his current state. Seeing as Anson had his weapon unsheathed, the Element of Loyalty immediately rushed at him, causing Anson to block it again while summoning his other blade to block Applejack’s next attack as it was a little too close for comfort for him.

As another method of protection, Anson used Sword Shield to protect himself from future attacks, but it’s backlash was that it caused the ponies who attacked him to get hurt.

“Anson, stop this NOW!!”

“Wait, you two know each other-?” Was Rainbow’s reply before her hoof accidently touched on of the blades on Anson’s shield, cutting her. A small scream of pain was all it took to have the rest of the girls enter the room as well and for Nicko to put himself in between his brother and the Elements of Harmony.

Ryu sighed in relief and exasperation as the pain passed and situation escalating. He raised his hand and created a barrier with [Resist] between the two groups. That took their attention to him.

“Let’s take this somewhere else.” Ryu said, only to grunt as his arm spasmed in pain, shattering the barrier as he lost concentration.

The group moved their location to one of the castle’s open balcony, where they had enough room for all of them to lounge in comfortably. Twilight had called for the Princesses and informed them of the two strangers. Celestia and Luna decided to join in this discussion just in case it becomes a repeat of two months back.

Now here they were, sitting around three separate tables and enjoying some tea provided by the castle staff. The Element Bearers were in one table, with the Princesses in another, and the Displaced being in the last. The tables were moved closer together to make the conversation easier.

Nicko himself was slowly drinking the tea that was given to him. He wasn’t quite a fan of the warm beverage and mostly preferred Coffee or Hot Cocoa, but he would make due with it for now. Anson, on the other hand, wasn’t quite a fan of it. Seconds after drinking his tea, he set down the cup immediately due to the fact that he burned his tongue and the stinging sensation was still there after a while.

Ryu was enjoying his cup as he sat in a modified wheelchair, often glancing at everyone else’s curious expressions over his student and Anson.

“I suppose introductions are necessary.” he said, making a gesture to the near identical duo. “The one with the spikier hair is Anson, and the other being my student, Nicko.”

The ponies looked surprised at that bit of news.

“To explain it properly, I suppose that I should tell you about the Displaced, a group of individuals who were taken from their original worlds and thrown into multiple versions of Equestria, while at the same time losing their identity and becoming someone or… something else…”

The ponies nodded and listened carefully about the Displaced, with Ryu starting things with the Merchant and the items that he sold, either personally or indirectly. Nicko and Anson also added in some their experience, and telling them of the other Displaced that they’ve met.

“So wait,” Rainbow Dash started, pointing at Ryu. “You mean you’re not really a dragon?”

“Originally no,” he shook his head. “But after I got my merchandise, I became one while waking up here, over a thousand years ago.”

Twilight and the princesses were obviously interested. From the spark in their eyes, Ryu knew that they had some questions for him after he was finished explaining.

“How come ya never told me about this b’fore?” Applejack asked as she looked at her uncle.

“I only found out after I was coming back from the dragonland. It never really came up after that.”

Despite the confession, Applejack wasn’t really pleased with hearing this. Before she could say anything though, Twilight had interjected to ask Nicko and Anson about what their Equestria was like. Both brothers complied as they told their adventures to the ponies, but everyone was quite shocked and surprised when Nicko told them about meeting Ryu in Griffonia. They left out the details about Twilight becoming a Princess, Eris being with Nicko and Discord being reformed just for Sanity’s sake as they continued to tell them.

During this time though, Luna watched as Ryu smiled and laughed alongside the girls as Nicko and Anson both told their tales.

Everyone may have forgotten about it, but Ryu still continued their lessons in their dreams. Even when he was outside of Equestria, he would somehow find a way to call her attention in the corridors of slumber, allowing her to find him in the myriad of doors.

During their lessons Luna had noticed some of the expressions on Ryu that she would have never seen in the waking world. He would show a face of a stern friend when he displayed the history of the Griffons, a dedicated student when it came to the Minotaurs, a cruel but fair dictator to the dragons, and, most surprising of all, a kind and loving father to the ponies.

It confused her when she saw his sadness during the times where ponies despaired and suffered; his proud smile when it came to a pony he knew achieving something grand; his kind, yet awkward, smirk when he showed a memorable event of a mare who had climbed the ladder of success, one who he had the honor of raising at times.

She couldn’t explain what she felt when she saw those different sides of him, where her mind had already portrayed him as a powerful foe, once, all those years ago, and a cold and grumpy teacher at present. It was those sides of him that made her eager for their next lesson, either on history, or on her speech.

Though she did have to hold back on lashing out on him most of the time, seeing that he was always so insufferable. But after that day, two months back, she finally saw those hidden sides of him emerge to the surface, where those two months she couldn’t even find him in her realm of dreams. He smiled, he laughed, he sincerely apologized; he became the person that she had seen glimpses of on those nights.

Yet, even though she smiled and was happy with his change, there was a part of her that was conflicted. Like Applejack, there was a part of her that longed for the insufferable drake that she had come to know… and maybe even love.

That feeling came crashing back when she saw him tense while putting his cup back on the table. His body spasmed in some areas, and his fingers twitched erratically. He gritted his teeth and tried to hide the reaction from what clearly looked like pain, but everyone had stopped their conversation and had their eyes solely on him.

“That’s it.” Applejack stated abruptly, staring down her Uncle. “There’s definitely something wrong with you. This has been happening a lot, and don’t you dare brush this off. Tell us what those balls were during the Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

Ryu tried to smile at her in assurance, but the glare she sent him made him realize that he wasn’t getting out of this one. He sighed and leaned back on his wheelchair. “They were my Dragon Genes.”

Applejack eyes widened, along with Twilight. Nicko and Anson themselves decided to pay attention for their own reasons. Nicko because he did not know what these Dragon Genes were and Anson because he wanted to know more about Ryu in general.

“How is that even possible?” Twilight asked. Genes were part of every creature’s DNA, so to have them removed would be like… Twilight grimaced. Was that why he was in a coma for two months; because he experience the pain of being torn apart?

Ryu groaned a little and sighed. “The Brood are different to the dragons of this world. Once they die they fossilize by becoming chrysm, a crystal like mineral that’s similar to solidified magic.”

“You mean like the gems in Equestria?” Rarity asked.

“Yes. But thousands or ten thousand times more potent in magical property.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise. Nicko and Anson were also quite surprised as well upon hearing these details. But also knew that the circumstances were different because of being a Displaced so they just played along with it as Ryu continued to speak.

“There are some Chrysm that are special, however. These are the remains of a powerful Brood that manage to keep some of their souls into their corpse. I don’t know about the other Broods, but I can assimilate these special Chrysm and gain their powers in the form of Dragon Genes.”

“Then those eighteen balls were…”

“My dragon genes.” Ryu finished Applejack’s thought. “I don’t know if it was because some soul lingered in them, still, or if they’ve become sentient over the passage of time, but I heard them. Before they ripped themselves out of me, I heard all six of them.”

“The same number of orbs left after they combined.” Celestia murmured thoughtfully.

“Splicing.” Ryu corrected. “By splicing the genes, I gain new abilities or make my already vast arsenal of spells more powerful. The problem now is that I don’t know what combinations were created.” This put Nicko and Anson in a state of concern as the conversation continued.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I already told you that I have more than one dragon form. Depending on what genes were spliced, different dragons would manifest.” Ryu personally grimaced at the next sentence he was going to say. “Worse of all is that Kaiser was one of them.”

Both Celestia and Luna tensed up as the Sun Alicorn’s eyes widened. “You’re saying that one of those orbs could have been the Emperor Dragon?”

Ryu nodded his head, expression going grim. “I’m one hundred percent sure that one of those orbs had been Kaiser. That gene is the most powerful one I had, and it overwrites every other gene except for one.”

“And that would be?” Twilight asked.

“Failure- the gene of a failed dragon. A dragon that was so weak that it was more human than a dragon. It degrades Kaiser’s power, allowing me to use that form without the risk of losing control of my sanity.”

“And the possibility of Kaiser being combined with this gene be?” Luna urged.

Ryu sighed sadly. “Zero.”

By now, the Princess had heard enough of this and immediately stood up from her seat at the table. “We must find those orbs immediately! Ryu, where are they now?”

Ryu chuckled without any mirth, shaking his head as he looked to Celestia. “I don’t know.”

“Ryu, what effects has this done to thee?” Luna asked. “This… we canst-- cannot even imagine what this did to you.”

Ryu pursed his lips and picked up his cup. He held it up for them to see, no longer suppressing the effects of the pain that came and went. The cup in his hand trembled, along with his arm. The fingers of his other hand would also twitch every so often.

“After they left I’ve lost all of my dragon characteristics. I can’t naturally breath fire anymore, or cut through gems with my teeth. My skin is easier to prick now with a needle, and my musculature isn’t as dense anymore.” That made Nicko and Anson both realize what had happened as they both looked at him and he did the same.

“That’s right. I’m human again. One hundred percent squishy human. I can still use magic, but every spell costs at least ten times more than normal if I want them to be as powerful as they had been when I still had the Dragon Genes.”

Both the brothers were quite a little concerned for Ryu, wondering how much strength did he actually expend when he originally summoned them. But there thoughts were interrupted by the former Kaiser as he smiled at the two of them.

“It’s fine. I’ve trained my magic enough that even when I have so little, I can still use it to lift an entire house for five to ten minutes.” Centuries worth of meditation and flexing his magic stretched his reserves phenomenally.

The student of Celestia turned towards her teacher, whispering if she could be able to pull off the same feat. However, Celestia told her a firm no as she tried to reroute the conversation back to the task at hand. She didn’t want to tell her student that the only strenuous magic exercise she’s done over the centuries had been moving the Sun and Moon.

“So, I’m afraid that I’ll have to leave this to you.” Ryu finished as he spoke to Celestia, gesturing towards his makeshift wheelchair. “As much as I’d love to help, Celestia, I’m afraid that I’d be more of a liability than an asset as I am now.” He placed the cup back on the plate, and eased back on the wheelchair again.

Applejack’s eyes narrowed as she watched her uncle. It had only been for an instant, but she saw a glimpse of Ryu’s old personality resurface as he gave his reason to the Princess for being unable to help. For her ears, though, it sounded more like an excuse; something that her uncle frequently did when he didn’t want to do something he didn’t want to.

Celestia contemplated on the information, frowning worriedly as she watched her old foe recline and noticing the twitches that still haven’t left his hands.

“I see… It’s unfortunate, but it would seem that the only way you can aid us if you act as an adviser.” she said.

“I’ll be more than happy to tell you what I know.” Ryu nodded. “Until then; I’ll be entertaining my guests for the duration of their stay.”.

If there was one thing that really grinded Anson’s gears, it was the feeling of being helpless. Not to mention the feeling of being carefree when a possible danger could be lurking anywhere. Right now, the teacher of his brother was beginning to show those signs and it pissed him off internally. But he did his best to not let this show. It was for the best since he would end up embarrassing the two of them.

Nicko, on the other hand, felt the same way, but didn’t want his emotions to get the better of him in this instance. In fact, he still had a few questions he had to ask his teacher. “Hey Anson, I need to ask Ryu a couple of things. Mind if you give us some Privacy?”

Anson grunted, but replied. “Sure. I’ll go walk around a bit in the Garden.” Nicko thanked the Infinity Sword as he took a seat where he was leveled with Ryu in his chair.

Ryu watched Anson’s leave with a raised brow before turning to Nicko. After the ponies left the balcony to do their own duties, the Displaced trio stayed behind for some privacy. Celestia had already informed the guards and staff that they meant no harm.

“So, Nicko, you had something to ask?”

Nicko sighed. “Well, when my brother and I said our stories… Not all of it was exactly… Accurate. For one thing, we’re not twins anymore.”

Ryu raised a brow. They looked alike plenty enough.

“Well, at one point in our fight against the Diabolic Esper that was attacking our Ponyville, he was able to reflect the blast that the Elements of Harmony gave off and aimed it towards Anson. But I used myself as a human shield to protect him. For seven years since, I was in stone. But he was able to return home. I’m now 25, but he’s 39. Fourteen years older than me. Not to mention that I have a niece who is also a Displaced.”

“I think you have some misconceptions of what it means to be twins.” Ryu shook his head with an amused smiled. “Anson will always be your twin no matter the difference in age. As for you having a niece, well, I can only congratulate you for it. Being an uncle is quite a privilege. My only advice for that is: Don’t spoil your niece too much.” God only knows how much he spoiled some of his first ones.

“Thank you Ryu. I have another question though and it’s about Eris. For a long time now, she and I have been friends. Partners. I really care for her and I want to be able to find a way to show it to her. Do you know anything that can help me?”

Uncomfortable would be the word to describe Ryu on the subject of love. Living for so long, he’s had quite a few flings, but those were just to satisfy his libido. Love has never really became a concern, seeing that he was either too busy training or, after that, worrying about a goddess coming after him.

“Well, the only advice I can give you about that is to take her out on dates, hang out more often, or just spend more time with her in general.” Ryu said. “To show someone that you care, you have to let them know that you’re paying attention to them; be there when she wants you, when she needs you, or even if she just wants to kill some time.” He scratched his head as the expression on his face changed. “Though you might have to mind how much you do it. Trust me, Nicko, you don’t want to be called a stalker by the ones you love.”

Ryu sighed to himself before looking at Nicko, who was partially interested to hear what exactly he was referring to by that . “Let’s just say that when I first got my family… well, I was creepy as hell.”

Anson needed a much deserved break as he began to walk through the garden outside, the wind blowing through his crimson hair and his pitch black jacket. He couldn’t feel the chill that the wind brought with it, but something else still lingered inside his mind. The thought of Ryu and his current personality was not like anything that his brother had told him before… and he wasn’t a fan of it.

Turning around another bush, the Infinity Sword soon came across the statues that were in the garden. He recognized one of them as Discord, the Avatar of Chaos. But there were a few others that weren’t so recognizable. One of them, however, looked awfully like a human with draconic features.

“Hey! Wait up!”

To Anson, he was surprised on two things. One, that Applejack was following him. The second was the statue that he was looking at and how it’s presence felt similar to the one he felt when he met Ryu for the first time.

“Pretty dramatic, don’cha think?” Applejack asked him. Anson answered the pony with a simple nod of the head as he continued to look at the statue in front of him. However, one thing that Applejack said to him caught his attention and had him listen to her more. “This was mah uncle back in the day, where he said he was at his weakest, but was at his most dangerous.”

“Yah won’t recognize him as he is now, but this guy right here?” She took a breath to point her hoof at the statue before continuing with a sigh. “This was mah uncle. Look at this thing; roarin’ up tah the sky like there’s no tomorrow. But when ah think about the stories that mah uncle told me when ah was a little filly it might have been true. Ah woulda never met ‘em if his plan back then failed.”

“I understand what you mean. I’m a father myself with a daughter of my own and I’ve been in the same position that he had probably been in once or twice.”

“Thank ya kindly.” She replied with a smile, but then frowned as she looked back at the statue. “I kinda miss mah old uncle; he’s different now. He was pretty much broodin’ all the time, rarely smilin’ unless it was to family. He’d always show us an honest tah goodness smile, tah me and mah family; tah all the Apple family, even. But now…” She shook her head before turning around to Anson. “How ‘bout you? What’cha think about mah uncle when yah met ‘em?”

“Honestly. My brother told me to expect him to be… almost like how you would describe him. Nicko told me that he was a bit of a, excuse my prench, Hardass and brutal teacher, but he learned from it. Now though, I’m seeing someone who’s trying to hand off his own responsibilities to others and I don’t like it.”

“So, yah don’t like ‘em too, huh.” The Element of Honesty chuckled in response. “He really acts unnatural. His smiles look so real, but you can tell that none o’ them's completely true. It’s weird for me to see ‘im so relaxed. Ah should be happy, ah know, but somthing’ about how mah uncle’s actin that’s really settin’ off mah nerves.”

“Mine too. Like he knows that he could be able to do something, but doesn’t want too.”

“An apt observation, Fair Applejack, Sir Anson.”

Both Anson and Applejack looked up behind them to see Princess Luna as she descended from the Upper balcony and softly landed on the ground by them. Applejack did the first thing that came to her mind and greeted her by her title as she bowed. However, Luna had surprised them both by saying that they only wished to converse. Anson himself then proceeded to ask why as the Alicorn of the Night exhaled another breath.

“We-- I am merely here to say that I also suspected your claims, Fair Applejack.” She began to speak as she looked at the statue of Ryu’s [Myrmidon form]. “I have known Ryu for some time now, thanks to our nightly lessons. I have seen that there is more to him than just what he shows.” Applejack nodded, agreeing with what the Moon Princess had said.

Luna then sighed sadly as she continued. “Though I am happy for his change, I cannot help but feel some lingering doubts about his new personality; it is too lax, too kind. I cannot help but feel some measure of revulsion seeing him smile so openly. I recall the times of ages past, where my sister and I would hunt the one dragon who had laid waste to the mountains of the Badlands. He was a threat, thus we pursued; for our subjects.” She smiled fondly as a gentle wind began to blow through Anson’s hair and the manes of both Alicorn and Earth pony.

“Ryu was one of the most aggravating opponent that my sister and I have ever encountered. He was cunning, vicious, yet attacks only to distract and never to kill. We thought that he only adopted such tactics because he could not defeat us, and that he needed more time to become a full dragon. Though, besides this form that you see in front of us, he only used one other form that he referred to as the [Warrior].”

Luna chuckled to herself as she looked back on what happened back then. “We lost. From the very beginning, we could not hope to capture him without resorting to lethal force. Had we tried hard enough from the very start of our pursuit, there was no question of our victory. But for each passing day Ryu learned a new spell, a new skill; using it efficiently and wisely. After he learned how to create explosions, we could no longer hope to out maneuver him; it was his most versatile spell for distractions.”

For a moment, Applejack puffed out her chest. Possibly as a sign of pride, but not one of Anson’s major focuses as he listened to Luna, who was now smiling melancholically with the ending of her story approaching.

“Even at the end, with us using the Elements against him, we were still outsmarted. He knew that they were our trump, our last resort against him, thus he used our surety, our confidence, against us. He escaped by replacing himself with a double, and my sister and I were none the wiser.”

“Interesting…” Anson said, intrigued a little by hearing the talented skills of his brother’s teacher. “If I may ask, is Ryu still… Up to par on his combat skills in his current state?”

“I am sure. Ryu has had centuries to hone his skills. With or without his dragon forms, Ryu will always be a dangerous foe.”

Applejack nodded. “From what he’s told me and what the Princess just said, he’s only used [Warrior] and [Myrmidon], then pretty much focused everything on fightin’ as a human.”

“Well, the guy I’ve met is definitely not like the one you have told me about just now.”

“That’s why ah’m so frustrated.” AJ then shook her head again before looking at Anson again. “Ah know that we only just met, but please, ah have tah ask ya a favor; Please help me get mah uncle back to his old self. It’s killin’ me inside every time I look at ‘im actin’ like that.”

Anson grinned a little. “Oh I believe I know EXACTLY what to do.”

Meanwhile,

As Nicko and Ryu finished their conversation, the two of them began to search for his brother; who left them alone so they could talk in peace. Now that they were finished, Nicko and his brother could return to their Equestria and to Faith, who he believed was waiting for them to return as soon as possible. The two of them soon found Anson standing in the statue garden with his arms folded and his eyes glaring at Ryu. “Hey Brother. I’m just about done. Are you ready to get going.

“In a moment. I have a bone to pick with Ryu and the fact that he’s acting like he doesn’t want to find his Dragon genes.”

Ryu frowned at the accusation as he gestured his head towards the wheelchair that he was currently sitting in “If you haven’t noticed, Anson, I’m not really fit to fight at the moment-.”

“Bullsh*t.” Anson spat. “For someone who was able to outsmart any problem that you would come across, outsmart the freaking princesses and find my god damn brother when he was hidden in Griffonia, finding these Genes of yours wouldn't be as hard as you say it is.”

The frown Ryu had on her face had only began to deepen. The Infinity Sword had figured him out. In truth, he could just easily use the [Prana] skill and know the locations of the Genes like how he knew the location of his student a few months back. He was going to confront him on why he was doing all of this, but his answer soon came with Anson’s next sentence.

“Applejack has been worried about you and she wants her old uncle back. Is this new you the person that your family would want to see you as.”

Ryu clenched his teeth, glaring back at the Infinity Sword. Nicko noticed the tension between the two of them and tried to break up the argument between one another. Despite this though, Anson pressed on. Applejack had told him a few things about her Uncle and to him, they were rounds in the chamber. And he wasn’t planning on missing any shots that he was going to fire at him

“Ever since you lost your genes, you’ve been hesitant on wanting to get things done and using every excuse in your book of tricks in order to avoid solving the problem. You know what I call that? Laziness. Your Dragon Genes could be out there causing who knows what kind of destruction and you’re just enjoying sitting back and doing nothing. You think doing nothing is going to help you when those genes go after Applejack and her family next!?”

Ryu’s temper flared, and along with it was his magic. “Shut up! What the hell do you know?!” Ryu had already thought of what Anson had just pointed out, but his freedom from the burden of the genes just felt too good. He was conflicted, oh so very conflicted. Same with any problems that he had that he can’t kill or destroy, he decided to bury it and forget it all together. “Why are you doing this?! What do you want from me?!”

“I want you to stop trying to ignore your own problems and do something about it.”

Again, Nicko tried to separate the both of them. But was caught off guard when Ryu pushed himself off of his wheelchair, standing up and beginning to confront his brother. Anson then turned towards his brother, looking at the conflicted Rune Slayer as he posed his next question for him. “Is this the person you respect as your teacher? A coward who has others fight his own battles no matter who gets hurt!?”

Nicko thought it through for a few moments. but soon, he walked over next to his brother and looked at his teacher. “Ryu, I respect you. But this new version of you is not the teacher that I came to respect back in Griffonia. And if you dare try to harm anyone from my family that I care about, I will not hesitate to harm you in order to protect those I care for.”

Gritting his teeth, the former Kaiser glared at both of them and sighed deeply. “Fine.” He told them as he used his [Mind Sword] skill to form a weapon inside his hand. One that wasn’t blunt like when Nicko trained with him back in Griffonia. “You can both suffer together.”

The determined pair of brothers drew their own swords in preparation for what was going to happen next. In preparation, Nicko casted Critical Sword to help him boost his attack power as a rune of a Sword and Sun circled around him.

From a clash of opinions, a battle begins. With a wills of steel and solid determination, both groups stepped forward.

End Log 12

Log 13- Guidance part 2

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Of Magic and Machines- Guidance Part 2

Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s world)

When the morning sun rose, Faith woke up, hoping to see her father and uncle back again. But, to her dismay, this was not the case. She felt worried for them. They told her that they would be back soon, but now, they still haven’t returned. Then, the young girl decided that the best way to address these feelings of hers was to write in her journal about them.

The last few days have been… strange for me. I’ve now been reunited with my dad and my uncle, but I now worry for them. At times, when I come back from meeting other Displaced and I don’t see them, I worry about if they’re okay. I even had a bad dream the other night about the two of them fighting someone that my uncle considered a friend. What should I do?

-The Code Nemesis, Faith.

Unknown to her though, an answer had formed in the book from her previous entry.

Hall of Elements (Ryu’s World)

Anson and Ryu kicked off the ground at the same time. The Infinity Sword wound an arm back, and swung an overhead slash. Ryu opened his [Mind’s Eye] and watched in clarity as how Anson’s blade descended.

The former dragon spun to the right, letting his opponent’s blade pass his left side before driving an elbow into Anson’s side.

The Infinity Sword stumbled back and almost didn’t see Ryu’s sword coming up to his face.

“No you don’t!”

Nicko jumped over his brother and intercepted the blade. Ryu’s eyes widened when his sword shattered almost upon contact against Nicko’s. The Rune Slayer himself was also surprised, but didn’t stop his assault and slashed at Ryu in a rising diagonal.

The gash travelled from Ryu’s lower right side and ended at his left shoulder. Had Nicko been closer, or if he had been going for the kill, he would have taken Ryu’s heart in his attack given how lightly his chest plate protected him.

Ryu jumped back, holding his wound in pain. He gave a grunt as he looked at his bloodied hand. He scowled before healing the wound and looking back up to Nicko. His student looked determined, but he saw Nicko’s hesitation when his blood dripped onto the grass.

“Is this how a disabled man fights, Ryu?” Nicko called out. “‘Cause I don’t see the problem.”

His mentor was silent, but Nicko saw how the man scowled deeper in response. Ryu created another sword, but glanced at the blade with a frown. It was a lot more transparent than the ones he had two months back. It looks like his magic in general really has lost its potency. That meant that he’d rather not try [Shadowwalk] lest he wanted to get trapped inside the shadow dimension.

“Sword Blasting!”

Ryu didn’t need to look up to know that something was coming at him. He trusted his instincts to jump back multiple times, dodging every magic constructed swords Anson sent him. The Infinity Sword was rather irked that he received the first blow, but was happy that Nicko got the first drawn blood.

They didn’t need to win the fight. They just had to convince Ryu to go after his dragon genes since it was his responsibility, it would probably kick him back to his old self as well. Though beating his annoying personality from earlier out of him could be considered a bonus.

Ryu grunted from his crouch as he forced his almost numb limbs to stand. He was really pushing himself with this fight. He was startled when a loud boom erupted from Nicko’s position. The Rune Slayer was running towards his mentor, using the very skill that was taught to him back when Ryu accepted him as his student.

Dirt and Grass were torn from the ground as Nicko created runes under his feet after each step, detonating them for every forward movement, and adding more distance in his strides.

He swerved to the left, and Ryu followed his path with his sight, then he kicked off to the right, with his mentor following him again with his eyes. Nicko continued his serpentine run until he sent a spray of dirt towards the former drake using the explosion under his foot.

Had Ryu not used [Mind’s Eye] from the beginning, the tactic would have worked, but because of the skill’s effect in enhancing his perception, he could easily follow Nicko’s movements as well as the spray sent his way.

However, his body was still recovering, his movements were sluggish, and his reaction time was slowed immensely. He tried to jump away to the side, but found his body unwilling to follow his command. It took a considerable effort to push himself to move. He dove instead of jumped

He was caught off guard when a rune appeared in the place here he landed, with Nicko already there and expecting him. His student seems to have grown more perceptive the last time he saw him.

“HAH!”

The Rune Slayer swung the flat side of his blade at the rune in front of the frozen Displaced, causing a reaction once his sword made contact. The rune detonated and the force that went to the sword bounced off of the blade, doubling the power of the force facing Ryu, sending him rolling backwards, and straight to the waiting Anson.

In a moment of panic, Ryu brought his legs under him, dragging his boots on the ground to halt his momentum. Anson’s only reaction to it was to smirk, and the former drake could only watch as the Infinity Sword swung his technique.

“Crescent Cut!”

Three consecutive sword arcs grinded against Ryu’s back. He gritted his teeth as what little armor he had did nothing to soften the blows. Nicko was already making his next charge when he was thrown forward by the attack.

“No!”

Ryu painfully stopped his momentum by planting one of his feet to the ground. He turned his body to the side and aimed both hands at Nicko and Anson.

[Cyclone!]

Blades of wind erupted from his hands and hissed their way towards the siblings. Nicko and Anson’s eyes were wide at seeing the distortion in the air. Both of them jumped to the side, evading the blades by a large margin. They converged into a the same direction, and watched as how the man once known as the Emperor Dragon panted breathlessly on one knee, sweating from exhaustion and littered with wounds.

They noted with slight curiosity as Ryu’s labored breaths seem to calm the more time went by. His inhales and exhales were also different, as if following a rhythm that they couldn’t grasp.

Ryu stayed on one knee, looking at both Nicko and Anson warily, waiting to see if they would press on the attack even before he caught his breath. Thankfully they didn’t, which in turn allowed him to use the breathing exercise he learned back when he was still training with the Minotaurs. It was actually then that he found out that it was just another skill that he could learn, but didn’t know how.

[Rest]

It puts him in a near zen-like state, increasing the recovery of his stamina and mana reserves. He had forgotten that he had it since it was rare for him to use it. It was thanks to the blood loss and exhaustion that he remembered this skill out of desperation.

“You can still fight, Ryu.” Anson called out. “We can all see it. Why the hell are you still refusing to get those genes?!”

“Yes, I can fight.” Ryu gritted his teeth. “But it’s you who just don’t get it; you have no idea how I feel.”

In his hand, another sword manifested. Using the mana he recovered, he healed all of his wounds with a quick [Restore].

“Those genes are your responsibility,” Anson called out. “And it’s up to you to do something about it!”

“Maybe so…” Standing up, Ryu spun the sword in his fingers, testing if they were still agile enough for what he had planned. He grabbed the handle after a final spin and held the blade in reverse. “But until they do something, isn’t it alright if I wait? What if they don’t cause trouble?”

“How sure are you that they won’t?” The Infinity Swordsman challenged.

“…” Ryu’s answer was only to scowl.

“You have the power to find them.” Nicko said, walking up beside his brother and looking at his teacher. “If you could easily find me in Griffonia, then it should be a piece of cake for you to find them.”

“Most likely.” Ryu gripped his blade tighter, openly acknowledging the idea. Still, he wouldn’t be swayed.

“Then why haven’t you?” Nicko asked. “Are you waiting for something?”

The former drake hesitated to answer, his expression turning into one of unease. “Because…” He clicked his tongue in irritation when he couldn’t think of anything to say. Instead he told them the first thing that popped in his mind. “…they haven’t done anything yet. For the past two months I haven’t heard anything concerning them.”

“THAT’S your reason?!” Anson glared at him in annoyance.

“Yes.” Ryu said with a glare. “And I’m sticking with that reason.”

For a moment, Anson wanted to drop his swords and start pulling at his hair. He resisted the urge and instead mirrored the glare on the other Displaced’s face. “That’s both irresponsible and CHILDISH!”

“And I’m as giddy as a colt who just got his Cutie Mark.” The former dragon snarked, without a trace of humor.

“What about your family?!” Nicko shouted. “What about the Apples all across Equestria!? Are you just going to leave them with these genes on the loose?!”

The moment Ryu’s expression darkened, Nicko knew his answer. But he was surprised with what came out of his teacher’s mouth.

“…I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

Anson’s teeth clicked together and his face warped into fury. “That’s not the Ryu that I heard from Applejack!!”

Kicking off the ground, the Infinity Swordsman swung his right blade. Magic burst from his body and turned into multiple blades above his head.

“Sword Blasting!”

He sent the constructs towards Ryu, unsurprised when the man dodged them nimbly, but he could see the strain taking its toll on the other Displaced’s body with every erratic movement. It wouldn’t be long until his body collapses under him.

“Are you happy with yourself?!” Anson roared at the man. “Is this what you want to be?! You’re so different from the man that I heard; the cold bastard with the hardass personality. Applejack doesn’t even recognize her own uncle anymore!”

“That’s because I am different!” Ryu tossed his sword at Anson, increasing its speed using his telekinesis. He pushed the blade forward, but gritted his teeth in anger when Anson merely batted it with one of his swords, shattering the construct easily. “I’m a different Ryu. I’m not like how I was before!”

Pushing off the ground, Ryu rushes at Anson. Nicko came in between the pair to intercept them, but Ryu used [Mind’s Eye] to read his movements and find the Rune Slayer’s blind spot after he swung his sword, to slip past him and continue towards the Infinity Sword.

“My heart feels lighter now, and I feel free!” Ryu roared.

He stopped running, just in time to dodge Anson’s incoming swing and breathed out a cold [Chill] towards the Infinity Sword’s legs, forcing the joints to unconsciously lock. Anson stumbled forward from the surprise as he looked down at his legs. In that moment, Ryu shoved his palm over the man’s face and detonated a [Simoon] at point blank, forcing the other Displaced to soar backwards into a roll.

“Anson!” Nicko unintentionally calls out, alerting Ryu of just how close he was behind him.

Ryu turned his head slightly, a single eye firmly locked on Nicko’s form as the still-active [Mind’s Eye] predicted the other man’s movements. The former dragon ducked low under his student’s swing and slipped inside Nicko’s guard. Shoving his hand towards Nicko’s face, Ryu detonated another [Simoon] that blew the redhead back.

“I don’t need to fear myself, or fear for the others around me.” Ryu relaxed his body, using [Rest] to recuperate as Nicko and Anson recovered. “I can smile without faltering; I can laugh without hesitating; for once in my life, in over a thousand years, I can be happy with myself!”

“You’re not the only Displaced who struggled!” Anson shouted back, his mind going back to the time he had met Jack Frost.

Ryu ignored his statement and raised a hand above his head with his palm facing the sky. Multiple balls of [Sirrocco] flew up into the air, where they started raining down everywhere in the garden. Nicko and Anson frantically dodged the hail of bombs, with the explosions creating potholes that threatened to make them stumble.

“I may not be the only one who struggled,” Ryu admitted. “but that doesn’t mean that my suffering was worthless!”

Ryu appeared right in front of Anson, using the blasts of the bombs to hide his approach. The Infinity Sword recoiled in surprise before using both of his swords to block the incoming fist.

[Frost Strike!]

Anson snarled in surprise when both his swords were frozen together, with Ryu still holding on to the ice, keeping him in place.

Ryu pushed his hand downwards and Anson held his swords firmly to prevent himself from being disarmed. Turning his face up, Anson saw the other man looking at him directly in the eyes with an angry glare.

“How many Displaced do you think despaired when they lost their identity? How do you think they felt when they see a different face every time they look in a mirror.”

With Anson’s blades still frozen in their crossed position, Ryu slipped a kick from underneath him and sent the Infinity Swordsman flying.

“How many of them do you think wanted to go back home? How many of them do you think wanted to see their friends and family again; to go back to their old lives?!”

Ryu bent his legs as low as he could, ducking under Nicko’s surprise assault. Because the area was littered with potholes, it was almost impossible to sneak up on anyone without disturbing the soft soil and alerting the target.

The former dragon spun to face Nicko and straightened his legs. Using that as a leverage, he swung his arm upwards and struck the redhead’s chin with an open palm.

Nicko stumbled back,his head rattled by the blow, unable to see Ryu spinning in the opposite direction of his first spin. He only regained his focus again when he found Ryu’s shoulder and elbow shoved into his torso with the force of a sledgehammer.

[Spirit Blast!]

With the power behind the Minotaurus Martial Art, as well as the effect of the [Spirit Blast], Nicko collapsed down to his knees and began coughing uncontrollably, sometimes even spitting out blood. The skill forced the impact to slip past the skin and muscles, and straight through the organs and out his back.

“I was one of those people…” Ryu whispered in sadness, looking down at Nicko. He could easily kill his student like this. “I wept in longing for my mother’s embrace; I cried out in sorrow for my father’s love; I huddled in a corner, craving for the company of the friends that I will never see again.”

When Nicko looked up at his teacher and saw the melancholy in his eyes. His mouth opened to say something to the man, but Ryu spun once again, gathering momentum, before kicking Nicko in the side of his head, sending the Rune Slayer tumbling straight into one of the garden’s statues.

“I’m trapped in a world that isn’t mine;” Ryu muttered. “trapped in a body that doesn’t belong to me; given a power that I didn’t want, a responsibility that I damned well didn’t need.”

A roar of rage alerted Ryu of Anson’s return. The Infinity Swordsman swung his weapons in reckless abandon, seeing what Ryu had had done to his brother.

Ryu weaved through the onslaught of sword swings, exploiting the effects of [Mind’s Eye] to read Anson’s movements and predict his next moves.

Left, right, back, spin; Anson was getting sick and tired of all his attacks missing. In his next swipe, he flipped his sword, Conwell, in reverse. Ryu didn’t realize what Anson had intended, and so paid the price for it.

The Infinity Swordsman stabbed Conwell down into the ground. and a split second later numerous copies of the sword erupted from the soil at an incredible speed. Ryu could only watch in shock and fear as most of them rose under his feet.

“RAGE CUTTER!!!”

Ryu tumbled and rolled in the air as the swords lifted him up along with their ascent. Numerous gashes and cuts littered his body, and he was thrown back a few distance away from the force of the rising blades.

Anson saw Nicko limping back towards him, and they both watched the other Displaced lay on the ground, face down, and bleeding heavily.

Ryu took his time laying prone on the ground, slowly healing himself with [Restore] and [Rest].

Clenching his hands, Ryu slowly started to push himself off the ground. He was still healing, but it wasn’t enough. He needed more magic.

“I lost my face, my body, and, over time,” Ryu gasped as a rush of blood dibbled out of his wounds. “I even lost my own name.”

He struggled to stand bracing his arms on his legs and ignoring the pain ravaging through his body, and the grass slowly being painted by his own blood.

“My psionics did nothing to help me. No matter how hard I tried, I just can’t remember it; the name that I was born with.” He threw his head back and roared in rage, the clear blue sky seemingly taunting him and everything he went through. “Every time I tried it’s always Ryu, RYU, RYU!!”

It was maddening. It was like his name was always there on the tip of his tongue, but before he could remember it, it would always be replaced at the last possible moment.

“It’s what I see when I look at my own reflection. It’s his face I see whenever I think about myself. It’s been ingrained so deep in my head that I sometimes think that me and him are the same person. Did you know that when you see or hear something too often, it will brainwash you to believe that it’s true?” He stood up, still using [Rest] to heal himself. “I don’t even remember what I used to look like anymore.”

A large hexagon gem appeared in the air above Ryu’s head. It rose high up into the air, and started to gather wisps of leftover magic from the area.

“How do you think I felt when I found out about the power that my genes possess?” Ryu asked. “Think about it: A reclusive teen, living a normal life, too stupid to think about the future, too content with the normality of his everyday, then he finds out that he has something equal to a nuclear bomb hidden inside his body. What do you think he felt when he found out that he could wipe out cities whenever he finds himself on the brink of death?”

The gem in the air, Ryu’s [Leech Power] spell, glowed for a moment, an indication that it was full. Soon it descended downwards, crumbling into glittering dusts before getting absorbed into Ryu’s body.

“What do you think that did to my sanity? Every waking moment it’s there, in the back of my mind, giving me unending stress for over one thousand years!”

The air sizzled, and the temperature in the area rose, as if answering to Ryu’s rage.

[Inferno]

“But now that they’re gone you’re telling me to go get them back? Why? Tell me a good reason. Tell me why I have to do it!”

Winds gathered and converged into a singles space above their heads. Nicko and Anson’s eyes widened when they saw it. Then, Ryu raised his hands, and the heat in the area flowed into the gathered wind.

Ryu’s eyes flashed ominously.

[GIGAFLARE!]

High above Canterlot, inside one of its tallest towers, six mares, one dragon pup and two princesses watched in awe and trepidation as the sphere of fire and wind engulfed the entire garden area.

Celestia and Luna watched with impassive expressions as they once again witness the prowess of their once old foe. Luna had instructed her guards to make sure that no pony comes close to the area. It was only because of her caution that this fight did not have any casualties. Yet.

“Holy…” Rainbow breathed out slowly. Once she’d heard that Nicko and Anson were going to kick Ryu’s flank back into his old self, she had wanted to be there to lend a hoof. But seeing how that fight had started and how it was currently escalating, she was glad that Applejack had stopped her.

“We should stop this.” Celestia whispered. “If they go any further then the ponies in the city will be in danger.”

“Be calm, sister.” Luna glanced at Celestia’s rigid posture. She could tell that her fellow alicorn dearly wanted to step in between the two opposing groups. “We are still in need of Ryu’s aid in the quest to find those Dragon Genes, but in order to do so, Nicko and Anson must first return Ryu back to his former self.”

Celestia’s scowl seem to only deepen at the notion. “Why? Can’t you see that Ryu has changed for the better? Why should we bring back that—“ a vision of the old and new Ryu flashed in her mind, with the old one sneering at her and the new one gracing her with a smile filled with kindness. “Why bring back that insufferable drake?”

Luna hummed in thought, tapping her chin with her hoof. “Mayhap it is because We have come to know the old Ryu, and We have seen what lies beyond his roguish exterior; a stallion with a gentle heart.”

“I don’t see it.” Celestia shook her head. “I just can’t.”

Luna raised her brow at her sister, giving her a long and measuring look. “Thou sayeth so even as Ryu hath shown thee what lies behind his false mask? That, sister, was but a glimpse of what truly lies in his heart.”

The princess of the sun sighed despondently, clearly unable to see the old Ryu showing such kindness and affection as he had displayed in the past week. “Maybe so, but is this truly necessary?”

“Yes.” Luna nodded resolutely, a gesture mirrored by Applejack herself. “For his sake, and our kingdom’s own.”

“Ryu…” Pinkie whined as she saw the man lying sprawled on the ground. The once majestic gardens of Canterlot was now reduced to a smoldering land of burnt wood and falling embers. His spell covered a large area, and the man didn’t even try to hold back. This, thus, left him vulnerable to the aftereffects of his own creation as he was more focused on inflicting harm to his opponents.

“And to think that this is him at his weakest.” Rarity whispered in disbelief.

“Yes. But for him to do this much damage, he must have put ten times the amount of energy like he said.” Twilight nodded, looking unusually solemn, yet serious at the same time. She had watched in trepidation of the upcoming fight, but seeing the powerful spells being thrown around, she slowly began to question the things that her mentor had neglected to teach her.

Twilight was conflicted in wanting the fight to end quickly, and wanting it to drag on longer. She was learning so much by just watching, and she knew that this was just surface what the Displaced are capable of.

Was Equestria really such a dangerous place that they needed beings like these to help them? Or were the Displaced the danger themselves?

Hopefully not, because just seeing a glimpse of what they can do, she knew that her Equestria stood no chance. It had been far too peaceful for so long to survive this level of violence.

Smoke and ash drifted in the air in the garden area. The soil and grass were burnt to a crisp, and the statues were either shattered or tipped over.

Ryu, Anson and Nicko were all sprawled on the ground. Nicko had used one of his stronger explosions to minimize the force of the gigantic spell, covering both him and his brother. Ryu, however wasn’t so lucky. He had used too much of his own reserves to properly defend himself, and so he was left to lay down and cover his head.

Anson was pissed at how far Ryu was willing to take this fight. He was pretty sick and tired of all the whining coming out of Ryu’s mouth.

They all struggled to stand back up, and all of them were glaring.

“You want a damn reason!?” Anson said through the smoke. “It’s because it’s your damned responsibility. You just don’t pass it on to others like that when you can still do it yourself!”

“It was a responsibility that I didn’t want!” The former dragon yelled.

Nicko stood up, using his sword to support himself.. “It’s your burden and no one else’s. Only you can get them back!”

“But I don’t want them back!” He pleaded. “It’s a burden that I don’t want to shoulder anymore!”

The only response that the former dragon received from the brothers was more pressure. More pleas. More desperate attempts in order for him to do what was right. “Sooner or later you’ll have to. No matter how much you don’t want it.”

“You have to take them back.” The Rune Slayer shouted. “They’re yours, now and forever, you can never get rid of them.”

“I KNOW!”

The loud scream startled both of the brothers as they look back at Ryu. The smoke had cleared enough for them to see each other, but they were surprised to see tears running down Ryu’s face.

“I know… I f*cking know that.” He sobbed through gritted teeth. “I know that I have to take them back, I have to; I must. Without me to reign them in who knows what they’ll do.”

Ryu fell forward, collapsing down to his knees as he looked down on his clenched fists.

“But I don’t want to! I’m free, they’re gone, and I don’t have to get them back if I don’t want to! I can finally have the choice of taking them or not…” He wiped his eyes to clear the tears, but they didn’t stop. They continued to flow no matter how much he tried. “But that was a lie. The choice was never mine to make. In the end, no matter what I do, or how much I deny it, I have to take them back.”

The two brothers could only watch as Ryu tried to keep himself together.

“There’s no such thing as Freedom. That word is nothing but a lie; a ploy to raise the hopes of those who are trapped in their own hell. And, when they finally realize the truth, it’ll destroy them.”

Ryu looked up to Nicko and Anson, eyes glaring and tears still flowing. The cunning opponent they had fought earlier was gone, and all that’s left was this man-- no. This teenager. No matter how mature he acts, or how cold his personality is, it didn’t change the fact that his body and appearance was that of a teenager only entering its adulthood.

“Why can’t you let me live this lie a little longer?! I don’t want to face the reality yet, I don’t want to go back living in fear again!”

Nicko looked at his teacher, who was again trying to wipe his tears away. He never thought of it like that. He didn’t know much of Ryu’s past, but he knew that the man was never this cold when he was sent to this Equestria. It made more sense that he became like this so that he could adapt.

Ryu never… truly grew up. He’d keep almost everyone away, with the exception of the ones who he grew fond of, but that only added to the man’s anxiety and fears.

To live a life in terror of yourself… how does one live like that?

Nicko didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. For it to turn a man into this? Nicko could only feel sorry for him.

Ryu’s eyes flashed for a brief second, and his expression hardened as he stood up and wiped his eyes. “I still have time. They haven’t done anything yet, so I can postpone the search until they do. You can’t make me look for them; I won’t let you.”

Nicko’s expression steeled. His teacher needed a hard slap from reality; there was no other way to it. If they wanted him to go back to the way he was, then holding back wouldn’t do anything. “Get back, Anson. Let me do this alone.”

The Infinity Swordsman turned his head towards Nicko. For a moment he looked as though he was about to protest, but seeing the look on his brother’s face, he relented. Nodding his head, Anson stepped back. “Kick his ass.”

Nicko nodded as his brother left, removing his cloak and showing Ryu the wounds he gained throughout the brief battle. This was how far Ryu was willing to deny his Dragon Genes, going so far as to even hurt his friends to do it.

What about Applejack? Would he go so far as to even hurt the one he sees as his own daughter? Nicko would rather not find out; only sorrow and heart break lies in that road.

“Ryu, you aren’t thinking straight. You’re just high off of your so called freedom. Right now you’re completely delusional.”

Nicko raised his sword and braced himself. With Anson no longer by his side, Ryu only had to focus on him.

Ryu snorted. “I must have spouted some bullsh*t if you’re telling me that. You’ll have to let me know which ones, though, ‘cause everything I said was the truth.”

“What you said may have been completely true, but that doesn’t make you right.”

Nicko started gathering his magic in preparation. Like Ryu had taught him, he was no longer bound by the rules of the world where the Rune Slayer originated; he could experiment and grow in skill, as well as in technique. Now is the time to show his teacher that he took that teaching to heart.

“Right, Wrong; what’s the difference?” Ryu spat. The pain that ailed him throughout the fight slowly began to fade, and the sclera of his eyes started to tint red. “It’s a simple subjective matter depending on who you ask.” Bending his legs low, he spread his arms wide. “What’s right to you could be wrong to others!” Then he lunged.

[Berserk!] - Ryu breaks through the limits of his physical body, but in return he’s slowly driven into rage as more time passes and becomes a berserker after a certain time limit is reached.

Nicko bit back a curse and jumped back. “No. I’m completely certain: You Are Wrong!” He blocked the fist aimed at his face, before redirecting the impact by tilting the blade in the same direction of the force.

Nicko distanced himself again from Ryu as his teacher’s skill manifested.

[Berserk]

By giving himself to his violent emotions, Ryu can increase the strength output of his body. It numbs his pain and increases the power of his attacks, but he risks losing himself to his rage. Once he fully gives in, he won’t stop attacking everything around him until he completely exhausts himself.

Ryu pounced at Nicko, delivering blow after blow of the martial arts he learned from the minotaurs. The movements have been beaten into his body for years, allowing his berserk mind to incorporate them as part of his instincts.

Snarling to himself, the former dragon spun and delivered a stiff kick at Nicko, only for the Rune Slayer to put up another block with his sword. “Oh really? I’m wrong? Well then how about you? What makes you so right?!”

Nicko held his sword close, focusing mostly at defense as he waited for Ryu to make a mistake. “I’m right because, unlike you, I’m not lying. Unlike you, I’m not hiding my real self!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Ryu roared, throwing another fist at Nicko. “I’m not hiding anything! This is me, the new man without those damnable genes! There’s nothing fake about the me!”

Blocking another punch, Nicko didn’t brace himself on the ground. He let the force of the punch carry him backwards while also kicking his feet from the ground to add more distance to his flight.

Once he found his footing, Nicko ran to the side, away from Ryu’s position. “Yes, there is! You’re hiding it behind that fake persona; you haven’t changed at all! You’re still your cold and indifferent self; the bastard who likes to piss off and make fun of others because he finds it funny! Right now you just don’t know what you want to do; you’re conflicted!”

The former dragon unleashed a feral roar as he ran after the redheaded Displaced. The power behind his legs were strong enough to catch up to Nicko, almost equal to his speed back when he was still a Brood.

“I choose to leave the genes be!” Ryu shouted, matching Nicko’s pace before delivering another spin kick.

Nicko parried the blow, letting the leg slide over the flat of his blade, then driving an elbow straight into Ryu’s face. “No! You chose to be lazy!”

The blow broke Ryu’s nose, but it almost seemed to repair itself as the Displaced immediately used [Restore] to fix it. Nicko didn’t let up on the assault and started hacking away on Ryu’s body using the eight different swings taught to him by the man.

“You chose to be neutral about them!” Slash! “You chose to stay your hand until someone forces you to move them!” Slash! “You want to fight,” Slash! “You want to take those genes back,” Slash! Slash! “but you’re just waiting for a reason to do it!” Slash! Slash! Slash! “You want someone to motivate you to go after them!”

Thrust!

Ryu roared as he caught the blade between shi palms. They both struggled to against each other; one trying to drive through, while the other was trying to prevent it.

"You, Ryu,” Nicko said through gritted teeth. “are just an angsty teenager having a B*tch fit!”

“Shut the hell up!!!” Ryu’s eyes were now completely dyed in red, and he rumbled an animalistic snarl as he slowly started pushing the blade away from him.

“And guess what, Ryu?!” Nicko bellowed with a massive grin. “I get the honor of b*tchslapping you out of it!”

Ryu’s eyes flashed as he finally pushed the blade away. “NICKO!!!”

The space around the Rune Slayer suddenly erupted into a blazing wall of flame. Ryu dove into the fire without hesitation, his mind now completely immersed in his fury.

When he passed the flames Nicko was already there, waiting for him. In the redhead’s hand was his sword covered in fire.

“SWORD FIRE!!”

Eight hits of flowing sword movements hacked away at Ryu’s body, cutting and burning in an agonizing combination. The final swing was a rising slash, and from the flames of Nicko’s sword, something took shape.

“PHOENIX TALON!!”

The avian of flames spread its wings and flew to the sky. Inside its body Ryu howled in pain. His body instinctively went to its self preservation state and accessed his magic to heal the burns, even when there was nearly nothing left in his reserves.

“Shining…”

The phoenix burst, and the magic that created it held Ryu in the air.

“...RUNE…”

Massive glyphs of magic materialized in the sky, surrounding Ryu. In the haze of anger and pain, the man could only stare blankly as multiple rune swords started producing inside each one of them.

“BUSTER!!!”

Ryu made one last roar of defiance as the blades descended in a hail of death.

“RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHGGGGGGGGG!!!!!”

His body tore and healed, ripped and mended; all the way until the final specks of magic drained from his core.

From high above Canterlot, he heard someone scream his name.

Their voice echoed inside him; inside the empty core of his magic. From there, a spark began, feeding the emptiness again and again as the voice vibrated within his body and his heart.

Ryu’s eyes snapped back in clarity as the effects of [Berserk] washed away from his body. Reptilian scales formed and grew over his skin, spreading all over his body. His skin thickened and he felt his muscle strengthen and bulge. An instinct hammered away at his mind, and from his throat he could feel something rising.

[ROAR!!]

From the ground level, Nicko panted and heaved watching in horror as how overpowered his final spell was.

That wasn't how it was supposed to be. He held back. He was sure of it.

Somehow, someway; something increased the potency of his final spell. It was supposed to be non-lethal, and all the blades should have been blunted. Why the hell were they sharp enough to cut through skin and bones?!

Amidst his delirious panic, he almost didn’t see what happened to Ryu. His body grew scales; arms, legs, neck, and face.

Ryu had transformed.

In Nicko’s mind something clicked. Then he remembered his teacher’s words from earlier.

“What do you think he felt when he found out that he could wipe out cities whenever he finds himself on the brink of death?”

Was this what he meant?

[ROAR!!]

Inside the castle, all those that knew Ryu personally were rushing off towards the garden. Luna had gone off to the medics to call for them, Celestia was escorting the others and was preventing Rainbow Dash from going off into the hail of blades to save the Displaced.

They were all caught unawares when the whole Canterlot shook from the massive roar that emanated from the very place that they were heading into.

“The heck was that!?” Rainbow cried out.

Celestia’s eyes furrowed as she looked into the direction of the source. “I do not know, but I have a hunch. Come, we must hurry!”

They found Anson looking out and up the garden, his mouth open slightly. He had been in a daze of what his brother had done, but all of that seems to be forgotten as he was too preoccupied at watching his earlier source of fire.

“Anson!”

The man snapped out of his daze when he heard Celestia called his name. He looked over to the ponies rushing towards him, but didn’t pay them any mind as he went back to looking outside.

When the ponies were finally able to see what he was staring at, they could only watch and gape as they saw Ryu still trapped inside the hail of blades, but this time, the transformed Brood was keeping them at bay with the strength of his voice alone.

A sphere of almost tangible air pressure surrounded the Brood’s body. The pure brute strength of his lungs prevented the blades from touching him, and in turn the blades kept the full blast of the dragon’s roar at minimum.

The blades vanished when the magic keeping them corporal finally disappeared, almost at the same time when Ryu had to stop in order to breath.

The Brood fell into the ground with a thud, almost losing consciousness from fatigue. The ponies quickly rushed towards him, huddling around his tired body. There were white scales all over his body, pale as snow, and noticeably blank as an empty canvas.

The scales almost looked dead.

Thankfully, Ryu was still very much alive.

“Uncle Rahy!” Applejack panicked in worry. “Uncle, are you alright!”

The dragon let out a grunt and twitched his finger, making Applejack and the rest sigh in relief. He raised his head slowly and looked at his hand.

It was real. His hand had turned into a dragon’s claw. The rest of his body adopted a similar change, but somehow they still retained their humanoid appearance. He was relieved to know that.

The scales slowly started to recede back into his skin. Then a few seconds later, he was back to his human self. However there was something wrong-- No. It’s more like there was something new.

Deep inside his mind, Ryu saw something. In the space where the representation of his genes used to reside, there was something hovering in the supposedly empty place. He didn’t know what it was called, but took on the appearance of a spark, blinking in a rhythm similar to a heartbeat.

“Uncle…”

Ryu looked up when he saw drops of water dripping on his hand. Applejack was crying in worry.

“Ah’m sorry.” She sobbed. “Ah didn’t know that it would go this far. It was me who asked Anson to do this.”

Ryu had already figured as much. From what Anson had been saying earlier in the fight, he must have heard about Ryu from someone who already knew him pretty well to make the comparison from his new and old self.

Tiredly, Ryu pushed himself off the burnt ground to sit instead of lying down. “Come here, Applejack.”

The mare dejectedly walked over to him, expecting angry words for what she had done. Instead, however, she was surprised when he pushed her hat down on her head, and started rubbing her head through it.

“I’m not mad.” he said with a sigh. “I’m just frustrated, is all. But not at you. It’s mostly with myself… and maybe with those two over there.” he gestured at the two other Displaced, who both suddenly looked uncomfortable when everypony turned to them at the same time.

“So…” Applejack sniffled, her tone suddenly turning hopeful. “Does this mean that yer back?”

Ryu made a grunt before groaning and laying his back on the ground. “Yes, I suppose. I’m feeling prissy, I’m uncomfortable with everyone surrounding me, and Celestia’s too close.”

Said Alicorn gave a start at the mention of her name. She then glowered at him when he made a gesture with his fist while his middle finger was raised.

“Ah’m so glad that yer back.” Applejack smiled happily, wiping away the last traces of her tears.

“So am I, I guess.” Ryu grumbled, still flipping off the the Alicorn even when she started glaring down at him.

Off to the side, Nicko and Anson watched the scene with a smile. Anson gave a helpless sigh when he felt his bruises throb. Hopefully the medics would help him with that. Nicko, however, suddenly frowned. There was something that he wanted to say.

Steeling himself, the Rune Slayer started walking over to the other group. Ryu raised his brow at him, and Nicko’s steps faltered in uncertainty.

Ryu nodded his head, and gestured for Nicko to come closer, making the apprentice smile in relief.

“Yes, Nicko?”

“I…” he started nervously, “I wanted to say sorry for going overboard. That last spell was too much, and I don’t really know what happened. It was supposed to be non-lethal, but…”

He pointed towards Ryu, gesturing at his body from when he had transformed.

Ryu groaned in realization. “So that’s why…”

“What?”

Everyone looked at Ryu, who was rubbing his face in mild frustration. He knew what happened. After all, he’s been doing it several times during the fight.

“Congratulations, Nicko.” Ryu said. “You’ve succeeded in fulfilling the requirements for my next lesson. You just performed a [Combo], or as I like to call it: [Spell Chain].”

“[Spell Chain]?” Twilight asked, eyes shining in intrigue.

“When you use a spell or a sword skill, traces of it will be leftover inside you or in the area where you cast it.” Ryu explained. “That leftover then gets absorbed by your next skill or spell, adding a bit more power into it, adding some of the first skill’s effects into it, or mixing them both to create a chain reaction spell.”

Like [Gigaflare].

“But…” Nicko spoke up. “I don’t know how to do that.”

“It’s a Harmony effect.” Ryu answered, choosing to lie down on the ground. “As soon as you chose to become my student, the Master and Apprentice system was already established, like an invisible link between you and I.”

Though different from the system of the original Breath of Fire series, it still allows Ryu to teach Nicko what he can do. Also, like in the fourth game, Ryu has some requirements that his apprentice must fulfill first before learning a skill from the Brood.

The first requirement was [Consent]. The person must be willing to become Ryu’s apprentice by their own will and stick with it after the first session (i.e. the hazing). The skill that they would learn after would be [Movement], or [Spell Movement].

Ryu teaches his apprentice how to augment themselves using the skills that they already knew.

The second requirement is [Will]; the strong desire. They need a strong desire for them to learn [Spell Chain]; to impose what they want to the world and bend its laws for them slightly to get the effect that they want. Why? Because Ryu has Psionics, which is the ability to bend the world with the power of his thoughts. The harmony effect would ensure that the apprentice’s perception on reality would shift slightly, granting them a similar capabilities.

It wasn’t that hard for a Displaced given their nature, but for other creatures who are bound by the logic of their universe, this is an almost impossible task. They need an external link to change their perception on their reality.

“So, it’s like a ritual pact?” Twilight asked.

“Something like that, only without the fanfare.” Ryu nodded.

“So then, when I used those three skills back to back…” Nicko trailed off.

“Sword Flame increased the intensity of Phoenix Talon’s fire, and Shining Rune Buster was prolonged and strengthened because it was the last one used in the chain. The last spell always carries the magic of both first and second skills into it.” Ryu finished. “Do note, however, that you can only link three spells at max. Anymore and it would create a dissonance that would interfere with the harmony of your magic, thus breaking the chain.”

Nicko nodded in understanding and smiled. That would be useful in the future.

“How come I’m only learning this now?” he asked.

“Because of the link, and incompatibility of our magic.” Ryu answered. “The longer I see you as my apprentice, and you see me as your master, then the link will continue to change your magic to incorporate my style of fighting.” His eyes suddenly narrowed in thought. “Though to what extent, I don’t know. You’re actually just absorbing my fighting style at a phenomenal rate, something that took me centuries to create and discover.”

Nicko’s brows rose in surprise, as did everyone else’s.

“I can only teach you three things through the link, though.” Ryu said, lifting three fingers up and counting them down. “[Movement], [Chain], and [Variant]. [Movement] is the augmentation of your actions using the skills and spells that you already know. [Chain] is the ability to link spells to strengthen the next sequence or combine them to create something new. Last is [Variant], the ability to recreate spells of others through observation and theory.”

Which is pretty much just the [Examine] command in the third Breath of Fire game.

Ryu didn’t say it much, but the Original Ryu and his friends were geniuses. All of them. They could break down a monster’s skill and learn it themselves. Even more amazing is that they do it in the middle of battle.

That was what Nicko was going to learn in the future… but Ryu was worried about its abuse. Also, Nicko can’t learn an enemy’s skill if he doesn’t already have a spell that has similarities with it.

That was how Ryu recreated Nicko’s [Storm Blade] and made a variant called [Blade Burst]; It was just a bunch of [Mind Swords] erupting from his skin by using [Aura Burst] as materials for the swords.

“I see.” Nicko nodded before smiling. “I understand. I’ll definitely make use of what you’ve taught me.”

“That’s why I teach.” Ryu nodded rather grumpily.

Nicko’s smiled turned into a grin. “It’s good to have you back, Ryu.”

The reawakened Brood sighed. “I guess…”

…

“...So. Since I won and beat you...” Nicko started. “Does this mean that the student already supasses the master?”

Ryu slowly turned his head to give the student a very unamused expression.

“Uhh… so I’ll take that as a ‘No’?” he asked nervously.

Had Ryu been able to stand, he would have certainly decked the presumptuous Rune Slayer in the face.

…

“Please stop staring.”

Five days later

It’s been that long since the fight in the gardens, something that was now the talk of Conterlot’s Nobility. Some loose-lipped guard told it in a bar, which soon after spread like wildfire all over the city.

They now knew about beings from beyond their world, beings that could destroy their peaceful lives and drive their beloved kingdom into chaos.

It’s been five long days since Celestia and Luna have been trying, and failing, in pacifying their subjects. Some asked what the Displaced were, while most wanted their princesses to vanquish them with extreme prejudice.

Ryu had snorted to himself once he heard a pony say that. He was sitting in the sidelines during that time, watching the princesses squirm as their ponies bombarded them with questions, and even pointed at him in fear.

In return he merely grinned at them, one filled with so many sharp teeth that the ponies trembled when he rumbled his throat. His new gene seemed to function quite like the original ones, but he still didn’t know the benefits that it gave him.

Of course, Luna scolded him for scaring the ponies in the evening.

Speaking of the Moon Princess, she had become much closer to the Brood during his time of recovery. They once again resumed their nightly lessons, with Ryu regaling tales of his training now along with their usual studies.

With Celestia, however… not so much. Ryu still made sure to terrorize the Alicorn whenever he could, making her everyday much harder for her during court hours.

Celestia had said more than once that she preferred the Ryu who had woken up from the coma rather than the old one that they had now. Her pleas were heard by her sister, as well as the Element Bearers, but it was mostly just ignored.

As insufferable as the drake may be at times, it wasn’t like they could force him to change. Besides, Applejack and Rainbow Dash preferred this Ryu; the one that they could love and hate, respectively, and one that they were used to. For Pinkie Pie, it didn’t really matter. Both Ryu's still gave her attention when she spent time with him, and even played with her when she asked.

She knew about his opinion of her, about being too overbearing for his taste. But she had managed to wear him down enough that he no longer minded her presence. Though he treated her more like a filly instead of a grown mare, it was still a refreshing experience than when others think she’s weird.

Applejack also made funny faces when he would pick her up and cuddle her.

Rarity didn’t really mind all that much. Ryu was still polite and acted like a gentlecolt/man when he was around her. He said it was how he was raised, regardless of what his personality may be. As long as she stayed polite as well, then he won’t change how he treats her.

Fluttershy was the same. For her, it didn’t matter which personality he has, as long as he’s alright. She had been very worried during his coma, and was equally worried during the fight. As long as he was happy and healthy, then she would be happy as well.

For Twilight Sparkle… it seems her scholar spirit (whatever that was) had been ignited into a burning inferno. She wanted to ask Ryu so many things, and she wanted to know more about the Displaced from him (even though he himself was still fairly new to the concept).

But most of all she also wanted to learn from him; as in she also wanted to be his apprentice.

She hadn’t said it to anyone, to Celestia especially, but Ryu had seen it in her eyes. He saw that she would give him her [Consent] no matter how hard he would push her. He saw her [Will] to learn; the Desire. Then he saw it; the spark of ingenuity, the beginnings of a great and powerful mind...

He saw her [Greed].

Ryu had grinned then, a broad smile showing all of his fangs. Though she looked unnerved by it, she didn’t back down.

What he failed to tell Nicko when learning [Variant] was that he needed [Greed], and lots of it; the desire to take what you wanted and make it your own. That was how [Examine] worked, that was how Ryu could learn skills so quickly.

If he wanted a skill so badly, he’d observe it, break it down in his mind, review what he knew and take them to recreate something similar to the skill, then he would Realize it, making the new skill his own.

[Greed] was the final requirement to master his style of fighting.

Speaking of the troublesome Apprentice, he and his brother were still in Ryu’s Equestria. The Brood had healed them both completely with his magic after he recovered enough of it, but the medical staff of the castle wanted them to stay for a few more days for observation.

It seemed that Ryu’s [Spirit Blast] skills had bruised more than a few of their organs in the fight. No matter how potent the dragon’s magic was, they still insisted that the siblings stayed.

Now was the fifth day, where they were finally given permission to leave and go back to their Equestria.

Anson stood in the hospital room that they were assigned in, stretching his body as he stepped off the bed. “Finally! I was going crazy not moving for so long. “ he said before he dropped down on the floor where he started doing push-ups.

Ryu himself was still in his wheelchair. Even though he was recovering faster than his first week, some aches still lingered in his body. “You know, you could have done what I did when the doctor insisted that you stay in bed.”

Nicko looked at his teacher with a deadpanned expression as he put on his overcoat. “Ryu, not all of us try to scare everyone that we don’t like.”

“Besides,” Anson added, shoving himself from the ground and flipping back onto his feet. “We don’t have the set of bear traps that you call teeth.”

Ryu smirked, showing off his transformed dentures to them both before taking a bite out of the gem he fished from his [Inventory] pouch. After his reawakening, some of his dragon characteristics had returned.

“Your loss.” said the dragon.

“I still don’t get why we have to stay here to heal.” Anson complained, putting on his own coat from the bed. “We could have just done it in our own Equestria.”

“I insisted on it.” Ryu said, surprising the other two Displaced. “Just ‘cause you people call me an asshole doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you.”

“So you really do care about others?” Anson asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“Yes.” Ryu nodded. “You, two, especially. I care about your yelps of pain, and groans of discomfort. I sometimes use them to lull me into sleep these past few days.”

“You are a f*cking creep.” Anson deadpanned

“You’re just doing this because we beat you up, aren’t you?” Nicko added.

Ryu nodded without a hint of shame. Other people already know how he was. “It’s your fault for picking a fight with someone who knows how to hold a grudge. I mean, just ask Celestia.”

Anson groaned, slumping his shoulder in exasperation. “Is that why I was still feeling sore even after you healed me?”

“No.” the dragon corrected. “That was probably just the poison that I’ve been gargling and spitting into your food.”

…

Nicko and Anson stared at Ryu with their mouths hanging open, looking horrified and disgusted by the prospect.

“ … I’m joking?”

They did not like how Ryu paused before saying that.

“You BASTARD!” Anson yelled, leaping towards Ryu with intentions of strangling the disgusting man.

“Beep-Beep!” Ryu exclaimed, taking hold of his wheelchair with his telekinesis and moving it out of Anson’s reach. Soon after that, the dragon was driving around the room in circles, the infuriated Infinity Sword hot on his heels.

It was pretty funny to watch; almost like a scene from a cartoon. That was what Luna walked into when she came into the room.

“What is happening here?” she asked Nicko, who was still looking green at what he had just learned from his esteemed teacher.

“Ryu said that he’s been spitting in Anson’s food.” He said, throwing Ryu disgusted looks from where he was watching.

The mare raised a brow before looking Ryu, who was abusing his rapid recovery and forcing a recently bedridden Anson to chase him. “Lies!” Luna declared. “Never once hath Ryu approach any of Sir Anson’s dishes.”

Anson, at this point, had stopped chasing Ryu after finding out that the drake on wheels was using [Mind’s Eye] to dodge. He was, however, relieved to know that Ryu hadn’t been adding any dragon flavor in his food.

“VROOOM!!”

Ryu forced his wheelchair to power slide in front of the standing redhead.

Anson did his best to ignore him.

Luna nodded. “Twas our chefs who spat in thy cuisine to add their flavor,”

…

It was Luna’s turn to receive the look of horror and disgust from the Displaced siblings.

“Ha! This does entertain us!” Luna exclaimed.

She was joking? Why the hell would she make that kind of joke?!

“VROOOM!”

Their answer just made another power slide between them.

It was at that moment that Celestia entered the room. She then glared at the mobile dragon. “You corrupted my sister.”

Ryu made a sharp turn before he crashed into a wall, then came into a screeching halt right before the Sun Princess. “Yes, yes I did. But then again it’s your fault for choosing me to educate her.”

“Whee!!”

A pink blur dove over Celestia and landed softly on Ryu’s lap. Said blur was actually Pinkie Pie. She looked up to Ryu and grinned, the dragon laughing merrily before wrapping his hands around her body before applying his telekinesis on his wheelchair again.

They zipped around the room, making tight turns inside the wide space provided by the castle’s above standard facility. Luna and the two Elsword Displaced looked at them with expressions of amusement, while Celestia sighed in exasperation.

It was then that Applejack entered, looking for her uncle who wasn’t in the next room beside Nicko and Anson’s. She wasn’t very happy when she saw him using his telekinesis.

“Pinkie, stop that! He’s still supposed to be healing!” She scolded, turning to the dragon next. “You, too, uncle! Get back to bed!”

“Calm down AJ!” Ryu called out, still zipping around the room with Pinkie Pie. “This isn’t really stressful. In fact, it’s actually pretty fun. This is the first time that I’ve done something like this.”

“Still!”

Applejack yelped in surprise when she was picked off the ground by Ryu’s invisible psionic grip. She was dropped on his lap, beside Pinkie, when they passed.

“Ignition!” Ryu exclaimed, followed by Pinkie’s sound effects and Applejack’s cry of terror.

“Vrooom!!”

“AAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

“Behave yourself, Ryu!” Celestia demanded.

The trio passed by in front of her, and Ryu flipped her off when they did. “You can kiss my toned cheeks, you bloated whale.”

The other three that weren’t in the exchange looked on in varying levels of amusement. “Damn, he’s a brat” Anson looked at his brother incredulously. “Is he always like this, Nicko?”

The Rune Slayer sighed, shaking his head in exasperation. “No.”

“This is worse than before!” Celestia exclaimed. Ryu wasn’t looking where he was driving, opting to keep his eyes locked on Celestia’s, with one hand still making the rude gesture. Pinkie, instead, was directing their path.

Luna was laughing at her sister’s expense. It was rude, she knew, but this was one of the few moments where could laugh freely and honestly. Some ponies still hadn’t accepted her return, even though she had been trying hard to gain their recognition. It saddened her that some, or most, still saw her as the shadow of Nightmare Moon.

She shook her head as soon as she calmed down. “As much as We are enjoying this, the others are waiting for us back in the throne room.”

It was a relief to Celestia when her sister had reminded them of that. She was truly starting to lose her patience with the dragon. Now if only he would stop doing that gesture.

The princesses and the foreign Displaced soon made their way towards the throne room. Ryu and the other two ponies were still on the wheelchair, drawing skid marks on the floor of the pristine halls of the castle. Celestia did not appreciate the extra work the drake gave her servants thanks to his antics.

Nicko and Anson looked at the three on the chair making tight turns and zipping past, back, and around them. It was pretty funny, but they’ve already outgrown such childish things. They were the Displaced, people who have powers that could very well shake the very foundations of the world. Being jealous of such things would be pretty unbecoming.

“Power Slide!” Ryu called out.

Definitely not jealous.

“720 Rotation!” Pinkie followed.

Not jeal-.

“BARREL ROLL!” Ryu and Pinkie shouted.

Oh come on! How does that even work?!

Anyways, the seven of them soon entered the throne room, where the rest of the elements of harmony were waiting for them patiently. Nicko and Anson were long overdue for their return, and their loved ones were probably worried about them by now.

So, one by one, they each said their goodbyes.

Twilight was the first to speak, reaching out to shake Nicko’s hand, though the Displaced needed to crouch down to do it. It was like the ponies in this world were smaller somehow. “It’s a shame that you have to leave. I still have so many questions to ask.” The lavender unicorn said.

Rainbow spoke next, flying over to the two brothers to give each of them a hoof-bump. “You two really kicked that jerk’s butt. Both of you are cool with me.”

Rarity came up next, reaching up to shake Anson’s hand when he crouched down to shake her hoof. “Though it’s not normally my style of fashion, I still would have liked to study your clothes’ design.”

“Please take care. It was nice meeting Ryu’s friends.” Fluttershy said.

It was in that moment that Ryu made another power slide, passing between the two groups while saying, “Not friends!!!”

And away the dragon went again.

“I’ll throw you guys a party when you come back!” Pinkie said, giving both Anson and Nicko a hug.

“Thank you for what you did for me and mah family,” Applejack told both of the brothers, tipping her hat towards them. “Yer always welcome to visit us here whenever yah want.”

Luna nodded standing behind the smaller ponies along with her sister. “Indeed. We shall all welcome thee with open arms.”

“And hopefully the next visit won’t be so… eventful.” Celestia deadpanned to Ryu, who started singing when he saw Celestia looking at him.

“She sees me rollin’, she hatin’.” he then flips her off again. “As if she can stop me rollin my trollin~! Tries to stop me and mah trollin’, tries to stop me and mah trollin’~”

“What does that even mean?!”

“Trust me on this one Celestia, you don’t want to know.” Nicko told her, just leaving her even more confused. Soon, Ryu slid to a halt in front of Everypony and looked at the brothers.

“Now that everyone’s finished, let’s get this over with. I still need to heal, and your presence here isn’t helping.”

“Be nice, Ryu.” Fluttershy quietly scolded him.

“Sorry. Anyway, bye you two. Don’t expect me to be nice any time soon.”

Anson snorted. “Goodbye, asshole.”

“See ya, Ryu.” Nicko replied with a smile.

Ryu then started making some funny, yet random, gestures. The brothers’ knew that there wasn’t anything significant about it. It was just him messing with them again.

“With your task done, there’s nothing left to do.” the dragon recited. “I end your summoning, now shoo! Sh--!”

CRACK!

Unexpectedly, a portal began to tear open behind the Displaced siblings.

“--shoo?”

Ryu knew it wasn’t him who made the portal, because he still hasn’t finished making fun of the two, yet. Still, his eyes narrowed and his hands hummed with his magic. First was Balio and Sunder, not it was this. He was really starting to hate it when people just force their way into his dimension.

It wasn’t until he saw a white haired girl and a female Draconequus though that things got a bit… confusing.

“Hail and fair met, Equestria of the non-anthro variety! We come in peace!” Eris proclaimed, using a talon to dress herself in a Napoleon like outfit.

“Eris? Faith?” Nicko said in surprise. “What are you guys doing her-hurk-!?”

The Rune Slayer wasn’t able to finish what he was trying to say when the girl tackled him to the floor. Well, actually, she was just trying to give him an enthusiastic hug.

“Uncle Nicko!!! I was SO worried about you! I had a dream that you were about to get killed by a dragon-like human and-” The Code Queen paused, looking at the ponies behind them and stared in confusion “Uncle, Who are these?”

Applejack huffed in surprise.“Whoa nelly, did tha youngling just call ya “Uncle”?” The moment she saw the tear, she thought it was those weird stallions again.

There was one, however, who didn’t hear it. Her mind had flashed back to that day on Hearth’s Warming Eve, to the time where those two things stepped out of something similar, and where, in the end, Ryu had screamed in such agony that it gave her nightmares for weeks.

So, when Faith had tackled Nicko to the floor, there was only one thing that Rainbow Dash thought of.

“GET OFF HIM!”

She flew up and rushed at the girl, intending to knock Faith off her new friend.

However, in a split second of surprise, Rainbow was stopped frozen in mid-air. Ryu had his hand out, and was holding her in his psionic grip.

Rainbow Dash gulped audibly, as the point of a mechanical spear was held at the tip of her muzzle, with five more directed in various locations on her body. All of them were pointed with the intent to skewer her dead.

“Easy there everypony.” Nicko said after a long and awkward five seconds. “Faith here is my niece and is Anson’s daughter. As for Eris… She’s a friend and daughter of a reformed and married Discord-.”

“Uhh Nicko,” Eris interrupted, pointing at the wrist watch that she had conjured up. “another Displaced is calling us, and we really need to hurry.”

“Wait…” Celestia said. She had heard of what Nicko had intended to say, and her mind had almost frozen in shock because of it. “Discord is reformed... and is married? To who?”

“Well, that’s easy to answer.” Eris said, turning to the princess with a broad and mischievous grin. “I’m looking at her.”

Celestia’s mouth dropped open in shock, and before she could have a chance to gather her thoughts, Eris and Nicko disappeared. Anson didn’t really see the point in staying, so he took his daughter’s hand and led her through their own portal.

Ryu was pouting, looking at the empty space where both of the other Displaced had left. “I wasn’t done rhyming, yet.”

“There, there, Uncle.” She had moved over to him to pat his arm, but before she could, his wheelchair began to move again. “Where are yah going?”

“Somewhere to think of some things.” he waved back without looking. As he did, no one saw how his eyes narrowed and his lips fell into a deep frown.

Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s world)

Around the time that Faith and Anson got back, the Code Nemesis decided that she would go to her room to update her journal about the good things that have happened. However, when she cracked open the book, she found something different.

A message to her.

From a person named…… Robin.

End Log 13

Log 14- Back to School Shenanigans

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Back to School Shenanigans

Castle of Friendship

As soon as Anson stepped back into the world that he was familiar with, he was bombarded by friends and ponies that he knew from his previous adventures. Pinkie Pie was super excited to see him again, but he wasn’t quite up for fun and games once he was told about the events of the last couple of days. Especially with Twilight and Trixie needing his help in order to figure out how to complete the spell that was requested by Nicko for them to return home. Faith herself was in her room for a little bit while Nicko returned shortly after being called upon by another Displaced.

“Welcome back Nicko,” His brother greeted him as he walked into the main hall. “For a minute, I thought you were caught up in some spatial traffic.”

“Nah, another Displaced needed to see me, so I lent just a few minutes of my time.” He explained, now noticing the two mares behind him… and them almost yelling their heads off at one another, agreeing and disagreeing over a steady course of action. “What happened to Twi and Trixie?”

“They’ve been acting like a bunch of headless chickens for the past half an hour. Trying to solve some kink in the spell that you requested.” Anson explained. “Twilight wanted to do a spell based on you creating doorways with tokens of the Displaced while Trixie thought that might be too much of a risk. Since then, they’ve been at each other and now, I feel like I’m having a Migraine because of them.” Around that moment was when Faith came out, a little confused by the ongoing rhetoric that was happening.

And by the sudden entrance of Princess Celestia. Who used a Teleportation spell to enter the room. And Twilight or Trixie never noticed her at all.

“P-princess-!?”

“Greetings everypony.” Celestia spoke. “I heard the new about Anson’s return and just had to come see for myself.” She then looked at the two mares that were arguing with one another and then looked back at the two brothers.

“Is everything alright?” She asked.

“You can say so… however, it seems like both Twilight and Trixie had hit a fork in the road with their planning. They can’t seem to agree on how to move forward with the spell that they’re working on.”

“I see… Hmm, I have an Idea if you think it could help them?” Celestia offered. “Anson could stay behind and help the two of them with the spell that they are working on while Nicko and Faith could go visit my school in Canterlot. Maybe you two can learn some new skills from the books in the library-.”

“Wait… You have a school?” Nicko asked. This was honestly the first time he had heard of it at all. Especially coming from a figure such as Celestia. From the sounds of it, it seemed like a special academy. Almost like Xavier’s school for Gifted Youngsters in the X-men franchise, where young mutants attended the school so they can learn about their powers and later on, fight alongside the X-men.

“Why of course… Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

‘Okay, I have a feeling that Stan Lee is going to sue somebody.’ Nicko told himself as he thought the idea through.

“Which of course, we banned Amy from ever stepping foot on the campus again after what happened the last time she was here?”

“Was it because of the dead body joke she pulled?”

“H-how-?”

“Molly told me.” Nicko answered the Alicorn’s question. “She told me that during a ceremonial speech that Twilight was giving, Amy used her powers to make it look like she was stuck inside a wall and proceeded to say “Hey kids! Wanna see a dead body!?!” while a few moments later, she was on the run and saying, and I quote, Buck the Police. She then proceeded to tip almost every painting in the halls of your castle and make them all crooked.”

“Why yes… And Dear Stars, was that hallway an excruciating headache to walk through. Just as much as a headache as it was for when my brother slept with that gravity queen displa-.”

“Woah woah woah! Hey Princess,” Anson interjected, pointing at Faith. “Can we tone it down a little? I rather now have her be asking me any weird questions later today.”

“Noted.” She sighed, handing a small emblem to Nicko and Faith. “This emblem will take you to the gates of the school and also serves as verification for getting past the guards. We’ve had to increase security there the past few years because of the incidents that have occurred involving Amy and her family. Including one that almost took out half of Canterlot and Half of Ponyville.”

“Woah, seriously?” The Rune Slayer responded. “What caused that to happen?”

“I rather not go into details… I would just say that it involved… Family matters.” She told him. Just then, Amy was rushing out the door, chasing one of the fillies that a few moments have attempted to try and steal muffins that she was baking for Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo back at their home.

“GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE TWERP!!!”

“Yeah…… I honestly don’t see how Amy could lead to half the destruction of two cities.”

“It wasn’t her that caused most of the destruction believe it or not. It was somepony else. But I’ll have to save that story for another time. Right now, Some ponies are expecting you back at the academy. Don’t cause any major trouble while you’re there.”

“We won’t, princess!” Faith saluted Celestia happily, causing the Princess to chuckle. The two emblems whisked away both the Rune Slayer and the Code Queen in a bright flash of light, leaving Anson with Celestia and the two unicorns that were arguing like a married couple.

“Hey, Celestia, can I ask you something?”

“Yes?”

“Who was this somepony else that you mentioned?” Anson said. The Princess sighed as the two of them walked to where Twilight and Trixie were. She could still remember the haunting tone that the monster Amy was put up against had said on that day. No matter how many times she and others had tried to slay the monster.

Born on a Monday. Christened on Tuesday. Married on Wednesday. Took ill on Thursday. Worse on Friday. Died on Saturday. Buried on a Sunday.

Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns

The guards standing in front of the School of the Sun Alicorn had seen many things over the years that they had been working at the private school. However, this one was just the strangest. After a guard shift, a bright surge of yellow light was seen in front of the main gates, putting the guards on alert.

“Call the captain!” One of them shouted while another ran off with a quick salute. A few of them took up arms as the light faded away, revealing two figures. One of them was a male and was in a Dark red overcoat while another was a female in a strange black set of clothes with a White Mane. Both of them looked confused and a little tense as the guards by the gate were in front of them, pointing their swords and spears. “Who are you?”

“Easy there,” Nicko tried to sway to them. “My name is Nicko and this is my niece, Faith.”

“And what business do the two of you have here at the School?” The Officer asked, reaching a hand for his blade handle. Nicko presented the tokens that Celestia had given him and Faith, but despite this, the Officer assumed that the tokens were forged and that the two of them were lying. He was about to give an order to arrest the two of them, until one other voice intervened.

“That’s enough, Valor Helm.”

The voice was one that Nicko had not heard of in a long time. In fact, he didn’t think that he would have the chance to see him again. The small blockade of Soldiers dispersed into a row of knights that stood at the attention of the Commander that was now in front of them. He looked at the Earth Pony and saw his hand near his weapon. “That is no way to treat a guest here at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Especially when this one is a friend of mine.”

“My a-apologies, Commander!!”

He sighed, looking at the stallion. “You will be dealt with later. Right now though, I want you and everypony else to return back to their posts right now.” Afterwards, the Earth Pony looked at Nico and extended a hand towards him. The Rune Slayer extended his arm, shaking the outstretched mechanical limb.

Nicko smiled, grinning a little. “It’s good to see you again, Caliburn.”

“Indeed, my friend. You have changed quite a bit since I last saw you,” Caliburn now noticed Faith as she stood alongside the human. “Pardon me, but who is the girl next to you?”

“She’s my Niece. Faith, this is Caliburn. He’s a friend of mine from a long time ago.”

“Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you as well, Lady Faith. You are very lucky to have Nicko here as your uncle.” Caliburn replied. The Earth Pony aimed to be respectful as the two of them walked towards the entrance to the school and past the statues at the front of the campus. “So, my friends, how have you been?”

“We’ve been doing… well to say the least. But I feel like I need to improve upon the spells and magic that I already know. Given that, Celestia recommended me to come here and spend some time in the library to see if I could possibly find something that can help me with what exactly I’m looking for.” Nicko told him. Now Eris herself came out of Nicko’s body to join the three of them and with her entrance came a surprised reaction from Caliburn. He had dealt with taking care of Draconequus before since he had helped Celestia and Discord raise Chaotic, but he wasn’t really aware of what Eris was able to do. He thought the two were similar, but soon found out that it was exactly the opposite once she took form.

“Hey Nicko. You look kind of warm in that Jacket. You want me to help you change into your normal clothes.”

“Sure I guess. It’s only temporary right?” The Rune Slayer asked. She nodded, adding on the statement of “playing it by year” as she snapped her talon and Nicko’s clothes change back to the ones that he originally came to Equestria in.

“Nothing but the hits.” Eris giggled. She personally like both sets of Nicko’s clothes, but prefered his original one more. Mostly because it allowed him to move around easier and because she liked the sword that came along with it. “So Caliburn, how have you been? Is Nobleheart still here? I haven’t seen him around lately.”

“After Tirek escaped from Tartarus, Cadence decided to step up security in the Crystal Empire and offered Nobleheart a spot as a general. He accepted the position and had me be the commanding officer of the Canterlot Division.” The Earth Pony explained as they went through a set of wooden doors that were trimmed with golden outlines. “Now, the library should be at the end of the hall and to the right. You should be fine as long as you don’t disturb any of the ponies that are studying in there. Also, the whole Library is soundproof so nothing from outside will disturb you.”

“Thanks Caliburn,” The Rune Slayer told him as he turned towards his Niece. “ Faith, take some time to explore for a little while. If you have any questions, I believe Caliburn can help you with anything that’s on your mind. I should be done in a couple of hours, so come find me outside when I’m done.”

“Okay! Thanks Uncle!” Faith smiled as she went to go explore around the many floors of the school. The Rune Slayer smiled as Eris faded away into his body as he entered the room. Caliburn himself sighed a little, soon realizing a mistake that he made.

He forgot to tell Nicko that some of the students at the academy ‘idolize’ him.

Meanwhile…

“So Lyra, you never did told me the story on how your friend Amy got herself banned from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. So far I asked some of the ponies here, but they kept on changing the subject every time, why is that?”

The Unicorn named Lyra sighed. “Personally, you would not want to know. Ever had that moment where you want to just yell ‘BUCK YOU!’ at the guards and do stuff just to get underneath somepony’s skin?”

“Surprisingly yes, but what did she do to get her into that much trouble?”

“Remember when Twilight was here after amending her friendship with Moondancer to give a ceremonial speech?” Lyra asked. “I know that you were on Vacation during the time, but I’m personally glad that you didn’t see it. Amy used her powers to make herself look like a dead body in the wall of the main lobby and then shouted ‘Hey Kids, Wanna see a dead body!?’, which caused everypony in the room to scream like a bunch of school filly’s.”

“Seriously? How bad was it when she did that?”

“She made it look like Blood was seeping from the walls. Afterwards, she messed up every painting in the hallway while being chased by the guard and yelling, and excuse my prench; no offense...... ‘Buck the Police!!’. After that, her sister and mother had to watch over her for three weeks of house arrest and then was banned shortly after.”

“That would explain the poster of ponies that are banned from the school. That and seeing some of the ponies cleaning some of the blood from off the walls in certain places when I came back from Neighpon.” During this moment though, Minuette happened to notice a new figure that looked nothing like a pony and more like a human. It had long white hair and was leaning against a tree. She was personally surprised to see her earrings turn into a personal set of drones that pulled up interactive screens like when Molly was modifying her Dynamo’s one time when Lyra introduced the Mastermind to Minuette.

“Hey Lyra?”

“Hmm? What’s up?”

“Is that your friend Molly?” She asked, pointing out the white haired girl by the tree which caught Lyra’s attention. This, in turn, had the Mint Unicorn walk over with her friend to the girl and her two drones.

“Whoa!! Since when did you get an upgrade Molly?”

The girl looked up, raising an eyebrow. “Hunh? I’m sorry, but who are you?”

“Molly, it’s me. Minuette, remember?”

The girl tilted her head. Soon, she realized the misunderstanding. “Oh, I apologize. I’m not Molly. My name is Faith Nocte. Molly is still in Ponyville with her sister. These two are my drones; Moby and Remy.”

“Oh sorry. It’s just that you almost looked like her a bit, but now when I look at you, you are a little bit smaller than Molly and much nicer than she is…… at times.”

“Right. If you told that to my Dad, he might get a little angry.” Faith chuckled a little. Meanwhile, Moby completed a test he was running. “Sarcasm self test complete.”

“Oh good, that’s back online.” Remy sighed.

“So tell me, Ms. Faith… who is you father?”

“Anson Nocte.” She replied calmly, but firmly. The reply got a a bit of a shock from Lyra.

“W-Wait a minute, you’re Anson’s daughter?” The Unicorn asked. Faith’s only reply was a simple nod of the head, causing Lyra to be even more surprised. “I-Is he here in Ponyville?”

“Yeah, she’s helping Twilight back at her castle while I’m here with my Uncle.”

“And your uncle is?”

“Which one? I have two.” Faith told her.

“Name them please.”

“Nicko and Leo.”

“Okay…… wait a bucking minute-.”

“Lyra, language,” Minuette whispered. “She’s a minor.”

“Oh please, like she or any other filly haven’t heard a curse word or two. Not to mention after what Amy did last month. I’m pretty sure all the fillies and colts in town are saying stuff like that behind their parents back.”

“Right… anyways, as you were saying?”

“What was I saying? ……Oh right! So you’re Nicko’s niece?” Once again, Faith nodded her head. “Then you heard about what happen to him right? He got turn to stone seven years ago.”

“Actually, I saw him enter the library five minutes ago.” Faith told Lyra, who now used the Spears on her back to sit down like a personal chair.

“What do you mean you saw him five minutes ago? He can’t be moving around because he’s a stone statue-.”

“I freed him three days ago. My friend Chaotic and I were able to free him and Eris when we came across the statue and since then, he and I had quite a few adventures together. There was Nelly, Chibi and Ammy, Orpheus and Dinky-.” Her saying this caused Lyra’s face to become one of shock. Like what happens when a filly asked their parents where do foals come from.

“...........”

“Umm… Are you okay?”

“Don’t mind Lyra… She’s… Processing.” Minuette told her. “Hey, why don’t we introduce Faith to Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine? I think that they would like to meet her and see what she could do.”

“What about Moondancer?”

“Last I heard, she was studying for an exam she has in one of her classes at the library. We can introduce Faith to her later when she doesn’t have her head stuck in a book.”

“Ugh, that mare is always studying. But then again, she is Molly’s friend after she gave her one of her Dynamo’s to study it. So I guess that kinda makes sense on why she would be studying.” Lyra groaned a little. Faith herself had dismissed Moby and Remy, having Minuette and Lyra lead the way to the rest of her friends. She also began to wonder how her Uncle was doing in his research in the Library.

Library of the Gifted

Stacks upon stacks of books cluttered her small table as the mare named Moondancer was trying to concentrate. She had a major test involving advanced magical history coming up and was trying to make sure she could fit as many facts into her little brain as possible. The subject she was studying was focused on the feats of Grand Magus Starswirl the Bearded and his apprentice; Clover the Clever. Both of them were known for numerous feats and Moondancer was inspired by the fact that Starswirl was able to control a powerful magic that was currently said to be lost to modern ponykind.

“Chapter 23: The Endeavours of Runic Sorcery,” She muttered to herself silently. “Over the time that Starswirl the Bearded was alive, one feat surpassed all of his other achievements. The creation of Rune magic and the Runic language that is most commonly known to be used in multiple forms of spellbooks. It combined the elements mostly seen in Nature along with the energy used in magic to form powerful runes which could be used for multiple purposes. However, it has been said that this magic is now all but lost and that nopony else could be able to read Starswirl’s old journal and decipher his notes…… Wait… That’s it!?”

Moondancer was caught off guard by the sudden end to the short chapter. In the book she was reading, mostly all the chapters consisted to be around five to ten pages in length. However, this one was only two; which she considered as a major disappointment considering the fact that this was the only book out of almost everything in the library where it included information on the subject. Using her levitation, she carried her books to the front desk where the librarian was.

“Ms. ink? I would like to return these?”

“Why thank you Moondancer,” The mare replied. “Did you happen to find everything that you were looking for?”

“Almost…” Moondancer sighed. “The chapter on Runic Sorcery was too short and didn’t provide enough information for me to study on.”

“Really? Did you see the books that Starswirl the Bearded wrote himself?”

“Yeah, but most unicorns can’t read even half of the content that’s inside. If only he made it simpler.”

“Well, I don’t think he is having a problem with reading it.”

This caused Moondancer to raise an eyebrow as she looked at the librarian again. “Wait… He?”

“The red headed boy over there.” The mare pointed out to the unicorn as she turned around. Her eyes widened upon seeing the individual. She had only heard of one being that matched the description of this one. Red hair, black and white clothes, runes on his shoulders, bracers and his sword. No way… this can’t be happening.

She was looking at Nicko Nocte, the Rune Slayer. The warrior from seven years ago that sacrificed himself to protect his brother during the rampage on Ponyville. But… this was theoretically impossible! How could he be right there even though he was supposedly sealed away? Was… the seal somehow broken? Because he was sitting right there in the flesh!! So, after about five minutes in thought, she decided to muster up the courage to go over and sit down by him.

“Hmm… this is quite interesting.” Nicko said to himself as he flipped through the pages of one of Starswirl’s old books. “It seems like I can combine my runes with other spells to create my own skills. In addition, judging from this, it seems like I can combine two skills that are equal in strength to create something totally new.” Using an ink bottle and quill that Eris had provided for him, Nicko began to take notes on his observations and record them so he could have them for future reference. The Rune Slayer wanted to make sure he had a place for them to be written down since his memory wasn’t quite “up to par” because of his Autism and how it affected his way of processing and remembering information.

But one thing broke him from his concentration as he heard another voice that was different from Eris’. “Umm… Excuse me sir?”

Nicko looked up, only to see a Unicorn mare that almost reminded him of Twilight. “Yes?”

“Is this seat taken?” She asked, pointing to the chair in front of him.

“No, by all means. Go ahead.”

“Thank you kindly,” The Unicorn smiled, sitting down and then focusing her attention on… him? “I’m sorry for bothering you again, but would you happen to be Nicko Nocte? The Rune Slayer?”

Nicko nodded his head. “Indeed, I am.” He watched as the mare’s face light up in glee as she looked back at him. Yep, just like Twilight when she met her the first time. Just without the feeling of her wanting to have him undergo numerous tests on him. “I’m going to take a guess that you’re a fan?”

“More or less. A lot of ponies are inspired by your bravery and talents, Mr. Nocte. There’s even a fan club of you on campus.”

‘Great, I’m back after seven years and now I feel like there's a cult that preaches me as their lord and savior.’ The Rune Slayer thought to himself before sighing and composing his thoughts. “I’m surprised to hear about that. I didn’t expect my choice to protect my brother to lead to this.”

“Your actions can inspire a lot of people. Including me actually. I’m honored to meet somepony like you in person.”

“Why thank you, Miss……”

“Moondancer. My name is Moondancer.”

“Moondancer. That’s a nice name you have.” Nicko complimented. “Oh, excuse me for a moment, my friend needs to introduce herself as well.” Before Moondancer could even ask, Eris was out of Nicko’s body and sitting next to him.

“Hello, names Eris. Daughter of Discord.”

“Um… Hi?” Moondancer replied in a shy tone.

“I like her, Nicko. She’s reminds me of Twilight.” Eris giggled, making Moondancer blush a little as Nicko chuckled. He placed a cap on the ink veil he was using and cleaned his quill before giving them to Eris.

“So, Moondancer, what are you doing in a place like this?” Eris asked Moondancer out of curiosity so both her and Nicko could know her a little bit more.

“Oh, I’m a student here. I want to become an Elemental mage once I finish my classes here on campus.” Moondancer replied. “I might not be the student of a Princess like Twilight, but at least I can be able to use my magic for helping other ponies in need.”

“That’s a very good goal. You actually kind of remind me of my niece because of your optimism, Moondancer.” The Rune Slayer told her. Moondancer blinked a little, before straightening up her glasses and looking back as him.

“I’m sorry if I sound rude, but you have a niece?”

“Yes I do. She was actually the one who broke me free of my stone imprisonment.” He told the mare, whose eyes widened upon hearing that. “Her name is Faith and she’s actually here with me. However, she decided to take the time to explore the rest of the campus because I thought that she might get bored if I had her wait in a library all day long.”

“Heh, that’s a good point.” The unicorn replied. The three of them continued to talk for a little while on the accomplishments that Nicko had done and also the magic that Moondancer was capable of. During the talk though, The Rune Slayer noticed a few things. One being that she had focused on Elemental spells of Fire, Ice, Wind and Lightning. The same elements that an Elemental Master, A mage based class in Elsword, could control at will. Was it possible that unknowingly… Moondancer had become that class? He needed to investigate a little more on the subject.

“Hey Moondancer?”

“Yes Nicko?”

“Would you like me to get you something like coffee or tea?” Nicko offered politely, watching Moondancer look at her with a confident smile. She only had one reply for him.

“ …… I would like that.”

Back to Faith…

Since she had met Lyra and Minuette (Or as some ponies know as Colgate), Faith herself was soon given a small, but simple grand tour of the entire school with them finishing up inside the huge grand hall that reminded her of when her dad showed her Harry Potter for the first time. The entire school kept on reminding her of Hogwarts and not because it was a school for Wizardry. It was mostly because all the attendees that were there besides guest speakers and guards were magic wielders of some sort. There were classes such as Spells 101, Potion making for fillies, and Elemental Mastery just to name a few. Now though, she was with the Two Unicorns, who had approached another small group of them in the back of a huge room.

“So what do you think of the place so far Faith?”

“It’s quite… amazing.” Faith replied, since she had a lack of words to describe her feelings.

“I take it that you’re kind of bored or not impress by the school?”

“N-no… I just… I honestly just don’t know how to explain how I’m feeling.” Faith retorted. “I think the proper saying is ‘At a loss for words’.”

“Really? I figure you would have something to say about it, then again not everypony would have the right words after taking a tour of the school.” Minuette told her. “Still though Faith, Lyra and I still need to introduce you to our classmates and friends.”

“Let’s just hope they don’t freak out like the last time I introduced them to certain red head human.” Lyra sighed.

“That was because the ‘introduction’ was her bursting through the door and saying WHAT’S UP, B*TCHES!!! as loud as she could. Faculty had to pay for the door she busted and the property damage she caused.” Minuette sighed. Faith was going to say something, but that was when Lyra cut her off unintentionally.

“To be fair I didn’t think she would do something like…..but then again, this is Amy we’re talking about so I guess I’ll take the blame for that one.”

“Lyra! Minuette!! What a wonderful surprise…” One of the other unicorns said, before noticing Faith. “Umm… Lyra? Who’s this?”

“One of our teachers from today’s class we’re having.”

“Wait wha-?” Faith reacted, not knowing what Lyra was even trying to do.

“She looks too young to be a teacher… Come to think of it, she reminds me of that ‘Molly’ girl that was with Moondancer a couple of times.” The Unicorn named Sparkler replied. Casting a brief spell, she looked at the Mint colored Mare with a look of disappointment “You’re lying, aren’t you?”

“She’s not Molly, Sparkler. This is Faith. She’s the daughter of Anson and Nicko’s niece.”

“Wait… are you talking about that one boy that was in stone?” Another Unicorn responded. This one being named Twinkleshine, who was sitting next to her friend Lemon Hearts. “How the hay does that make any sense?”

“Don’t ask me, ask the look a like human of Molly next to me if you wanna know.”

“Hey!” Faith giggled, playfully pushing Lyra.

“What? Well you do look like her, only she’s a little bit taller than you and much smarter than you…...no offense or anything.”

Both of Faith’s drones glared at her for a moment because of the comment. “None taken.”

“What? I’m just saying that’s all.”

“Lyra. I think you better not say anything else, or you’ll end up like Prince Blueblood did when he called Molly stupid behind her back.” Minuette reminded her. “Or the time he insulted her mother and then chased her throughout Canterlot Castle with that contraption of hers that she called Apocalypse.”

“And not to mention when she told her mom about that……..I can still hear the screams of a girly colt still echoing through the halls of Canterlot.”

“Umm… Lyra?” Faith interjected. “I think we got a little distracted by this conversation. You still haven’t introduced your friends yet.”

“Oh right. Sparkler meet Faith, Faith meet Sparkler.” Lyra said gesturing to both her friend and human.

“Nice to meet you, Sparkler.” The Code Queen replied, extending a hand for Sparkler to shake.

“Nice to meet you too, Faith.” The Unicorn shook her hand, smiling a little. “You want to see what we’re working on girls?” This surprised Lyra and Minuette. They didn’t know that Sparkler was working on a side project of any kind.

“What’s that?” Asked Lyra.

“We’re working on a special thawing process where you can summon creatures that are encased inside special Ice sculptures like this one.” Sparkler showed the three of them, using her levitation spell to lift the object she was referring to.

“You think that’ll work? Not that I doubt you can thaw out something out of ice, but have you tested it?”

“We’ve performed small scale tests already. Now, we’re going to try full scale.” The Unicorn replied before turning to her colleague. “Lemon Hearts, prepare the burner.”

“Right away!” She gleefully spoke, preparing the contraption along with Twinkleshine. As they watched the process, Faith heard something from a friend of hers. But one that only she could hear.

‘Something is wrong...’

‘What’s wrong, Sombra?’

‘There's a crack in the figurine. Something tells me that this is going to get out of control. Stay on your guard.’

“That’s what you said when you ask me to be a test subject for your last science project. And thanks to that, my tongue turns blue every time I eat ice cream.” Minuette told Sparkler, who dismissed the comments in order for her team to make sure that all the safety preparations and everything else for the experiment was in order. “Hey! Don’t ignore me!”

“I’m not. I’m just busy with something else.”

“Again, that’s what you said the last time.”

“I’m sorry for your tongue, but I really don’t want to mess this up.”

“........Fine, I’ll be quiet so you can focus on your project.”

“Thank you,” Sparkler said, redirecting her focus. “Now… it seems as if almost everything is in order. Now we just need to place the figurine in there and boot up the machine so we can begin the full scale test.” Using her hands, she flipped a series of switches on the machine and placed the figurine in there.

“On the count of three…… One…… Two…… THREE-!”

“Question Sparkler?”

“Yes, Lyra?” The pony asked.

“Where did you find this giant block of ice?”

“Under the Castle. Why do you ask?”

“........Please tell me that when you found it, it didn’t have a writing on it.”

“Yeah, but it was blurred and nopony could read it.”

Lyra’s eyes widened… This was bad. “Faith, I need you to get Amy and Rainbow Dash and bring them here asap.”

“Why? What’s-?”

CRAACK!!!

“No time just get them here NOW!!!”

Before she could go anywhere, a few desks went flying to the back of the room, demolishing the door. As the smoke cleared, a new figure was in the room and it smelled like a corpse as it said a few words.

“ … Born on a monday… Christened on a tuesday… Married on a wednesday… Took ill on thursday… got worse on friday… Died on a saturday… Buried on a sunday… Is this the end for Solomon Grundy.”

“Nice going Sparkler! You just brought back Equestria’s greatest villain/monster of all time!”

“How was I SUPPOSE TO KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN?” Sparkler shouted. “This didn’t come with a warning label attached!”

“Whatever!” Lyra’s horn started to glow as she fired a magical beam of magic at the Grundy. “Faith, go get Amy and Rainbow Dash here now!” The magic did nothing to stall the behemoth as it charged towards Lyra. However, what surprised her was when Faith stepped in between them, using her spears to fight back.

“No. Go find Uncle Nicko, he should be in the library. I can deal with this.”

“Are you crazy? You never dealt with something like him, and no offense or anything but Nicko isn’t-.”

“Shut up.” The single statement caught Lyra off guard. “No one dares insult my family and gets away with it. I’ve dealt with more stuff in the past three days than whatever you had to deal with in your WHOLE LIFE!! I’m not a little girl anymore!” Faith’s mechanics were not forming around her, preparing for what was to come as Lyra looked at the girl one more time.

“I’m your friend… and this one’s Nemesis.”

“Yeah but-.”

“No buts, Lyra. All I’m asking for is ten minutes. Now go, before this guy goes after you.”

“...... Fine.” With that, Lyra lead the other girls out of the room and proceeded to lock the door from the outside as the Code Nemesis stared down her new opponent, anger in her eyes.

“You think a little girl like you can hurt Grundy? Grundy will smash you till your dead!”

“I like to see you try.” She taunted. Thanks to her recent encounters, one of the things that Faith had focused on was her speed. Despite this Grundy being big in size and possibly was powerful in strength, it lacked the quickness and agility that she had.

“That just like that fool Gleaming Shield said when she fought against me. It didn’t turn out so well when I sent her broken body to some puny unicorns crystal castle-.”

“ASSAULT SPEAR- JUDGEMENT!!”

“Assault wha-? OWWW!!!” Grundy said as he saw a spear sticking out of his chest. “Forgot that even though I can’t die, I can still feel pain!!”

“This is only the beginning. I’m not letting you hurt anypony here, Mundy.”

“........ I’m gonna enjoy making you scream.” Grundy took a few steps back, then began to charge at Faith like a charging bull. The Code Nemesis grinned, using her spears to pull herself out of the way of the incoming beast and prepared her next skill. Iron Scraps. An explosion of shrapnel that hurt just as much as her assault spear a few seconds ago. “Gonna take more than just that if you're trying to stop me!!”

“I’m not stopping you…” Faith said with a devilish like grin. “I’m stalling you. There’s a difference.”

“Like Celestia could help. I beat her and her brother along with the god of chaos to a living pulp. What can-?” Then, a bright flash came from the door as a blast sent the overgrown giant to the wall on the other side of the room.

“Watch what the HELL you say, freak!?!”

“Uncle!! Eris!!!”

“Great more pest for me to kill, and another puny chaos god for me to slam my fist into again.”

“The only fist that’s going to get slammed into anything is mine in your face as it hits the floor.” Nicko told him as Eris faded into his body. “You okay, Faith?”

“Never better actually,” The girl replied with a smile. “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

“How sick. Watching you two almost makes me want to throw up.”

“You know… You act a lot like someone we know.” Nicko said, straightening himself as he adopted a proper fighting crouch. “But hell, you are a lot worse than Amy and she’s not here right now-.” Before he could finish that statement, Grundy threw a ball chain past Nicko’s head, hitting the wall behind him.

“So you're the boy that Molly had data on when I came to this rat hole of a world called Equestria. I have to say, I’m not impressed... boy.”

“Define which boy,” Nicko said, letting his magic course around him. “I’m a lot more magic focused than my brother and let me warn you… I can be a bit… unpredictable… at times.”

“More predictable seeing how you been in stone for the past seven years. Compare to Amy, you’re nothing more than a practice dummy I use to punch in my spare time.”

“Really? Well, you have no idea who taught me how to fight… In fact… How do you know I’m actually here right now?”

“You really think a little runt like you can kill me-?” Before Solomon Grundy was able to comprehend what was about to happen, the ball and chain he had on him froze in place as the boy in front of him turned into an Ice Rune. The real him was right behind Grundy as he used his Splash Explosion skill in order to make Grundy cringe in pain.

“Never… call me little… you dead overgrown maggot.” Nicko rasped. “I know you can’t die. But it doesn’t mean we can’t dish out as much pain as possible.”

“Why you little-!”

Before Nicko could react, Grundy was back on his feet with a huge slam into the ground. This caused Nicko and Faith to retreat backwards a little to avoid getting caught in the shockwave that followed. Nicko had an explosive rune by his feet, which exploded and created a large cloud of smoke. From outside the room, Nicko could hear Lyra shouting to him.

“Nicko!! Did you kill the Colossal Monster!?”

“Oh totally…” Nicko rolled his eyes. “Can’t you see his huge dead body?”

“ …… Are you being sarcastic-?”

“OF COURSE I’M BEING SARCASTIC!!!”

“Oh…...well how’s it going so far?”

Nicko looked back at the giant as soon as the smoke faded. “Have a look for yourself.”

“Hey I remember you!” Grundy yelled, as he pointed a finger at Lyra. “You’re the one that froze me in that block of ice seven years ago!””

Nicko had something click in his mind then… ‘Wait… seven years… Did this happen after I was in stone?’ Looking back at Lyra, he gave an expression that same ‘You have some MAJOR explaining to do’.

“Um…..would it help if I say that I was sorry?” Grundy only reply was him cracking his knuckles. “Yeah didn’t think so.” Lyra looked over at Nicko and gave an innocent look. “Nicko, buddy of mine, um…… best friend. You wouldn’t let that mean monster pound you friend into dust would you?”

Around now though, Faith began to hear something. Something familiar. “Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine MINE MINE MINE!!” That was when Amy broke through the wall and slammed her foot in Grundy’s face.

“Mine.”

“Glad you came to join us. I thought Celestia banned you though.” Nicko asked her as the dust began to settle.

“Yeah like she could banned me from school after kicking her flank two years ago.” Amy then turn her attention at Grundy as a crimson aura surrounded herself. “Hello father, didn’t think you would be out from prison anytime soon.”

“You can blame Sparkler for that.” Moby said. “She tried performing an Ice Burner experiment earlier only for this guy to come out.”

“Nice going yeah nerd. You see this why I don’t go into the science area, bad stuff always happens and I have to clean it up as always.” Amy proceeded to walk towards Grundy. “Now why don’t you all stay back and watch the show. I still have some….unfinished business with daddy.”

Nicko nodded, however, Faith refused. “I’m not going to run until I make him pay for trying to harm Lyra and my friends.”

“Kid I been training for the past seven years, and know how to deal with him so if you don’t mind I-” Before she could finish, Grundy slammed his fist into Amy. He was hoping it would send her flying, but it only made her stagger back a bit. “......excuse me for a second.” Amy fired a crimson color energy blast at Grundy causing him to be launched into the school’s hallway. “What was I saying again?”

When she turned around, she saw that Faith was gone and that she was by herself in the empty room. “DAMMIT SUNBUTT!!!” Then, she heard a loud clash in the hallway as Faith and Grundy squared off against one another. She used her spears to strike the beast while Grundy tried to use his ball and chain. But at one point, when one of Grundy’s attacks actually struck Minuette and nearly struck her uncle, Faith snapped.

“Oh you’ve done it now…” Faith cringed. “Prepare for a world of hurt.” A space pocket began to tear behind her as Nasod Soldiers began to drop in and ready themselves.

“LUNATIC SCUD!!!”

Multiple explosions rocked the room as Faith gave everything she got, trying to make Grundy scream in pain. When the spectacle was over, Amy stared at her, bewildered. But also looked to see the tired Grundy trying to get up. Surprisingly though, someone jumped in front of him. It was someone Faith had seen before. Arma, the gun for hire.

“Don’t mind me… I just need to take my leave with this big fellow.” He sighed. Amy dashed towards him in a rage, but with a swift flick of a Cobo Express Ticket, the Deadly Chaser and Grundy both disappeared.

“Son of a-.” Amy pulled out a cellphone from her pocket as a small hologram of her friend, Amelia appeared on it. “Hey Amelia! Care to explain why your gun for hire just took my father to…..wherever the hell he went?”

“I didn’t ask for him to take anyone… Wait… are you saying that he took who I think he took?

“Yeah he did.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, Just what the hell is going on?” Nicko asked as he fell backwards onto the ground, exhausted.

“So you’re the one that got stoned by my little brother Eric…… I thought you would be a bit taller than before, but then again you been in stone for the past seven years so that’s understandable-.”

“Watch your tone, and what the hell is this about Eric?” The Rune Slayer shot back for a moment. “Wait… are you his sister?”

A flash of light engulfed the room as Amelia appeared right behind the Rune Slayer. “What do you think child?”

Nicko jumped back to his feet. “Well, that’s a thing… I guess some explanations are in order.”

“No need, I’m reading your timeline right now.” Right now, both Faith and Nicko were beyond confused. But one thing was for sure… Things were WAY different in this world than there were before.

End Log 14

Log 15- The Wanderer of the Void

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Of Magic and Machines- The Wanderer of the void

Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns

“Okay… So let me get this straight…… You were doing… an experiment?”

“Yes, to see if I can unfreeze an object or item while keeping it still perfectly intact.” Sparkler replied, sighing. She was currently speaking to Amy, who wanted to know how in Tartarus was the monster that was her father freed from his frozen prison below Canterlot. Her little test had a MAJOR backlash as it let loose the beast named Solomon Grundy.

“And you decided to use that frozen block of ice to do that?” Said Amelia, the female Diabolic Esper that was alongside the Crimson Avenger. She had only met the crimson avenger a few years ago, but out of the time she had been alive, she was thankful that Amy was involved in getting rid of her psychopathic brother.

“It was the only one we could find that could stay intact for transport. Any other block Twinkleshine and I found melted within minutes of finding it. We needed something for a stable experiment and we couldn’t do that with a melted ice cube.”

“Well, nice going dumbass. You just let loose the world’s deadliest criminal.”

“Hey, it didn’t come with a warning label. For all I know, it could’ve ended up like the other experiments. I didn’t expect for it to turn out like it did. If it weren’t for Faith and Nicko when they showed up, we would’ve been dead.”

The Rune slayer lifted his head up at the mentioning of his name, eyebrow raised. He was quite surprised to hear that, personally.

“To be fair if fight were to last any longer. Nicko would of been sucker punch when Faith got trip by one of Grundy’s attack, but then again there were some other outcomes that I could see that might have ended badly for the short guy.”

“Okay, one, my niece has some tricks up her sleeves. Two, I have Eris with me. Three, you don’t even know what I’m capable of.” Nicko retorted as he looked at Amelia. “Plus, my teacher taught me some new skills thanks to me having to snap him back to reality. Even though some parts I’m trying to personally figure out on my own.”

“Kid I’m 5,000 years old, do really think I haven’t heard someone who say something like that? Plus you been in stone for the past 7 years, a lot have changed during your slumber. Hell, Amy here can wipe out a half a country if she wanted to.”

“Right… Eris informed me. Also, there’s one thing I can do that you guys can’t.” Nicko said. To show, he used a fire rune to light his sword and when he stabbed it into the ground, four blades appeared from each side. To the Crimson Avenger’s surprise, this resembled one of her old skills when she was a Blazing heart. Which really surprised Amy, but not Amelia...

“ …… I’m not impressed.”

“You’re never impressed by anything Amelia.” Said Amy.

“What? You expect me to give him credit for something like that?”

The Rune Slayer sighed. “Well, I can’t impress everyone, Amelia. But, I do have something that would remind her of the old days before Eric shanked her.” Before she spoke, Nicko snapped his fingers to reveal another version of his fire runes, before it sizzled out on him.

“Never thought I’ll be seeing this twice in my lifetime.” Said Amy, eyeing the Sigil briefly before it disappeared.

“I’ve been trying to figure out a few things after Ryu told me about being able to learn the same kinds of tricks he could. But some things aren’t adding up and I still don’t know why.” Nicko replied, watching as Faith left so she could return back to Anson by Chariot. He then looked in the sky. “Oh boy… Sunbutt, six o’clock.”

“Ah dammit! Five bits says I’m gonna be blamed for this.”

“Well you do end up causing trouble for her, not to mention that one time when you wrecked half of Canterlot…..twice.” Said Amelia.

“Right… I’m going to check on Lyra and everypony and see how they’re recovering.” Nicko retorted, already moving over there before Amy said something.”

“Oh you short little bastard! When I get my hands on you I’m so gonna-.”

“Gonna do what? Just give me a death stare? Also, you’re on strike two for calling me short. One more and you basically gave me position to give you hell.” Nicko warned, turning around. The first pony he noticed was Moondancer, who was walking over to where he was and had a relieved look on his face.

“Oh my… The princess is here?”

“Give it a minute…” The Rune Slayer retorted.

“AMY!!!”

“F…M…L…” Amy turned her attention at Nicko before he left. “This isn’t over between us jackass..”

“Hey, niether of us actually started anything. Plus, let Lyra do the talking.” Nicko sighed, looking back at Moondancer. “You guys okay?”

“A little bit hurt, but okay for the most part.” The Unicorn replied, straightening herself. She kind of blushed a little after looking at Nicko in his normal Rune Slayer clothes. Eris, inside Nicko’s head, giggled.

“I think she likes you, Nicko.”

“Seriously, Eris?’ The Rune Slayer spoke mentally.

“Think of it… Her wanting to sit by you in the library… checking to make sure if you were okay… The blush on her face? Can you not see the signs?”

“Nicko?”

The Rune Slayer snapped back to reality upon hearing his name… again. “Oh sorry, Eris was talking inside my head. Sort of a Draconequus thing…”

“I understand… Hey, if it’s not any trouble…… Would you two like to go get some coffee?”

“And now she makes her move… Kinky.”

“Eris……” Nicko mentally stated before going back to his reply for Moondancer. “Sure. I could use a break from what’s going on around here. Especially with Amy and Amelia talking to Celestia.”

“Great! Follow me!!” She replied back, having the Rune Slayer follow her. Her friends, including Lyra and Amy, all stared in shock.

“ ……… What just happened?”

“I think…… Moondancer just got herself a coltfriend.” Lyra said. Before anypony could say anything else, Amy was the one to intervene.

“Did anypony see how exactly she did that?”

Meanwhile…

It was a very busy day at Starbuckers Coffee Shop, but despite what was going on, it was still able to accommodate anypony who was wanting some coffee or donuts. The owner, Donut Joe, was doing what he would normally do on a Saturday morning. He woke up, ran the shop, and then closed. The cycle was endless in a way… But none of that actually prepared him for something he didn’t expect.

The bell on the door to the shop rang and he heard the sounds of two individuals walk in. “Hello there, how can I-? Oh hello, Moondancer. It’s been awhile since I last saw you.”

“Hey Joe. I want you to meet my friend Nicko. We’re just getting some coffee and taking a chance to talk.”

“Well, it’s a good of time as any to do that.” He laughed a little as both of the guests sat themselves on the dining counter. “So, what can I get for you two-?”

Eris soon emerged from Nicko, sitting on the opposite side of Moondancer. “I think you meant three.”

“I don’t get paid enough for this,” The unicorn thought for a moment. “Right… Anyways, what could I get you?”

“Got any coffee with a hazelnut taste?” Nicko asked politely. “I’ve haven’t tasted any in a long time, so I just wanted to start with something easy.”

Donut Joe nodded. He then asked for the size that he wanted and the Rune Slayer just asked for a medium sized and if he could have some creamer with it. The Unicorn nodded, adding some Prench Vanilla creamer to it so it had a sweet aftertaste. Ironically, Eris and Moondancer asked for the same thing, making it a little bit easier for Joe to keep track of the orders that he received. After they got their drinks, Nicko was the first to speak after that. “So… Moondancer?”

“Yes, Nicko?”

“Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?” He then asked. She cringed a little. The question made her a bit uncomfortable, but after five minutes, she spoke.

“Well… There really isn’t much for me to know… I was born an orphan. I’ve been living at the school my entire life and had a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes, weird things happen that even sometimes I couldn’t understand at first.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Well…” Moondancer sighed, taking a piece of paper and quill out and began to draw. “I can read and understand these. But I don’t know what exactly they are. Can you make any understanding of it?”

Nicko looked at the drawing, but then, his eyes widened. He couldn’t actually believe what he was seeing. But he needed further proof. Taking out his skill book, he cracked it open to the beginning. “Moondancer? Can I ask you something?”

“Yes?”

“Can you read this?” Nicko then told her, turning the book around. She adjusted her glasses and looked at the book. She soon nodded her head, surprising Nicko. This was completely unexpected. He had to take a few moments to take it in, finishing another swig of coffee before looking back at her.

“Well, this is truly amazing…” Nicko sighed. “Moondancer? When you were in the library earlier and met me, why were you there?”

“Well, I was originally researching about the Runic Sorcery that Starswirl the Bearded knew. What does that have to do with this?” The Unicorn asked, personally confused by what Nicko was saying and how it related to the original conversation.

“What you just read was runes.” Nicko told her. “Nopony else could read it, but you. Which means…… you are able to read and possibly do Rune Magic. You’re very lucky, Moondancer. Like, one in a million kind of lucky.” The revelation had Moondancer stare at Nicko in shock, but also made her feel very surprised. Despite already having a cutie mark, Moondancer always wanted to find a real purpose towards her studying and hard work. To where it felt like it would really pay off. Now, it felt like she had that chance.

As Nicko put away the book, the two of them continued to talk about each other’s past and also Eris and Nicko shared what life was like for being in stone for seven years. What was surprising was that both Nicko and Moondancer actually had some things in common. They liked to read in their spare time, they both came from orphanages, and they wanted to be able to expand upon what they already knew when it came to magic. Moondancer even liked it when Nicko told her about the time where he used Twilight’s Library card as a source of blackmail so she wouldn’t act crazy around him or his friends. She even began to wonder why she didn’t think of that when she had that party set up for Twilight all of those years ago. They even got the chance to talk to Donut Joe and have a good conversation about magic.

As they left though, Moondancer had a question for Nicko. One that she wanted to tell him, but was very nervous. “Nicko? Can I tell you something? I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier… about me being able to understand Rune Magic… and I made up my mind on something.”

“You did? What is it?” Nicko asked, a little curious about what Moondancer was trying to tell him. That was, until she said her next sentence.

“I want you to be my teacher. You’re the only one who could help me understand this kind of magic.”

“Wait… You want to become my student?” Nicko asked. When he saw Moondancer nod her head, he sighed. “Wow… that’s the first time anyone actually told me that.” He thought it over for a few minutes and then looked at Eris, who he asked to change his outfit back to the one he wore before coming here. He still held his original sword and had the new one on his back, until he gave his old blade to Moondancer.

“Woah… I never thought this blade would be this… heavy.”

“Actually… That is now your blade.” Nicko corrected. “I’m accepting you becoming my student, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First, it’s not just focused on magic.” He pointed to the sword that he gave the Unicorn and then showed his own blade. “It’s focused on both Sorcery and Swordsmanship. You need to master both of them in order to get to the skill level I am at. Second, Eris and I are going to need to explain to you about the Displaced. It’ll be hard to understand at first, but I bet with somepony like you, you will catch on real quickly. Third, there is one other thing I need you to help me with when I’m not teaching you.”

“What’s that?” She asked, tilting her head to the side, confused.

“I need you to help teach my niece, Faith. She has only been in Equestria for a few days, but she has a LOT to learn in regards to being able to fight and protect herself. But this will only be when the time is right. I don’t want you to push yourself too hard. Because I see you more as just my student, but as a friend. And a very good one at that.”

“I… don’t know what to say…” Moondancer stammered. She let instinct take control as the unicorn placed the sword on her back. To the Rune Slayer’s surprise, Nicko was caught off guard by Moondancer tightly hugging him around the chest. “Thank you…” The Mare soon let go though, upon realizing that Eris was watching the two of them.

“Um… Would this technically make you my coltfriend? Or are you and Eris-?”

“Eris and I are… well… in a relationship. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t be part of it.” Nicko said, turning to the draconequus. “Isn’t that right?”

Eris snickered a little, looking at the Rune Slayer. “Sure I guess. The more, the merrier. Plus, there was never a law saying that you can’t have more than one marefriend.”

“Well, this is a bit of a learning experience for everyone.” The Rune Slayer sighed. “Come on, let's get going. Twilight is probably worried after hearing what happened back at the academy.”

Moondancer raised an eyebrow as the three of them continued to walk. “Wait… You live at Twilight’s castle?”

“Yeah… It’s better than trying to live in the snow.” Eris pointed out, using her chaos magic to create a scarf for both her and the Unicorn to keep them warm as the cold breeze began to pick up.

“...... Good point.” She replied. The Draconequus soon teleported them back to the Castle of Friendship, only to be surprised to hear an argument ensued between Amy and Twilight.

“I TOLD YOU, IT WASN’T MY FAULT!! NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES SUNBUTT SAYS SO!! SPARKLER WAS THE ONE WHO RELEASED HIM!!!”

“I DON’T CARE!! IT WAS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE SURE HE DIDN’T GET OUT AND YOU MESSED UP!!”

“Okay… Let’s stay away from them.”

“Stay away from who?” Nicko soon turned around, only to see another familiar face.

“Oh… Hi, Jane.”

“Well if it isn’t Nicko. Finally out of your stone slumber huh?”

“I’ve been out of it for the past few days. You already met Faith, remember?” Nicko told her, recalling the celebration with Gremmy.

“Yes I remember her. So what are you doing here?”

“We just got back from Celestia’s school. Faith and I both tried to learn some things, only for a few surprises to happen.” Nicko told her, turning to Moondancer. “Moondancer, this is my friend Jane. Jane, this is Moondancer. She’s now my student and can actually read runes.”

“Not to mention Marefriend-.”

“Eris!!”

The Noblesses chuckled, looking back at the three of them. “Well, congratulations to you on both accounts.” She soon heard the constant yelling in the background where the throne room was and looked back at the Rune Slayer. “What did Amy get herself into now?”

“Well-.”

“I TOLD YOU, IT WAS SPARKLER’S FAULT THAT MY FATHER IS NOW OUT OF HIS PRISON AND ON THE LOOSE!!! ASK HER!! SHE TOLD AMELIA AND I THE SAME THING! Though, Faith was able to handle herself against him, BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT!! SOLOMON GRUNDY IS OUT AGAIN AND WHO KNOWS WHERE THE F**KING HELL HE IS!!!”

“..........WHAT!?”

“Damn it, Amy!” Nicko shouted mentally. Jane then looked at Nicko, the expression on her face looking like an enraged warrior who wanted answers. What happened next caught him off guard as Jane soon grabbed the Rune Slayer by the collar and pinned him to the nearby wall.

“CARE TO EXPLAIN WHY YOU DIDN’T HAVE AMY MOP THE FLOOR WITH THAT POOR EXCUSE OF A MAN!?”

“Whoa whoa whoa!! Calm down!!” He croaked under the pressure of Jane’s hand that was close to his throat. “Ss-parkler… did an ice burner experiment… and unknowingly dethawed him.” He coughed a little, blood dripping down from his mouth from the sheer force of the Noblesses claw on his throat.

“So it was Sparkler that let him out?” Jane said as she let go of Nicko.

“Accidently. She wanted to find a ice figure that wouldn’t melt when being transported and that one was the only one that fit the bill apparently.”

“......Dumbass.”

“Yeah… Now can you please LET ME GO!”

“Yes… I would advise that you do that.” A new voice echoed as a tear in the void took form. From there, a new individual stepped out. One that no one could see his face, but can see one portion of it. In addition, his right hand had a pair of floating cubes that moved with his fingers and a series of locks around his chest.

“I would not rather have a talented young soul like him dying to your uncontrolled emotions, Noblesses.”

“Who the hell are you?” Jane asked as she charged at the mysterious being. With a flick of his hand though, he threw her into a wall, knocking down all the framed paintings that were hanging alongside it and destroying a few statues of Celestia and Artemis.

“A very unwise choice… For you to try and harm a being of the void.”

“Son of a b*tch that hurts!” Jane hollered as she tried to get back up on her feet. Pain coursed through her as Amy from the next door room heard the commotion and saw Jane in the situation she was in. Like with her mother, Amy tried to charge in. But this time, it was Nicko who stepped in between and smashed his fist into her face.

“Knock it off! All of you!! Whatever you try to do, it won’t work.”

“Then what the hell do you suggest we do then-?!”

“Stay out of this!” He snarled back. “His business seems to be with me. Therefore, I will talk to him. I have some questions for him anyways.”

“A wise choice, Rune Slayer.” He retorted. “I would like your friends to leave the room first before you ask me your questions. This is nothing of which they need to be concerned about.” They were hesitant at first, but with a bit of insistence from Nicko, they listened to him. When it was just the two of them, Nicko then turned back to the other figure and asked a question. “Okay, just who are you exactly?”

“I am Glave. Servant of Henir.”

“Henir?” Nicko asked.

Glave sighed. “He is the god of Time and Space. But many in this world have forgotten of his existence. He may be gone, but his presence lingers within me.”

“So you’re the keeper of time and space?”

“To be precise, yes… Now, to a more serious note… you’re a Displaced. I know of your kind, yes… But have you ever asked yourself… who displaced you?” The question made Nicko’s mind freeze. Slowly, he looked back at Glave. Stunned look on his face and a mixture of emotions in his head.

“Wait… Are you telling me you know who did it?”

“I’m not telling you that someone did it…… I’m telling you that I brought you here. I needed the strength of a young soul and descendant of your parents and you fit the bill. Your brother and friend I had come along in order to help you.”

“Why though?” Nicko asked. “I’m not mad at you. In fact, I’m thankful for you doing that, but why are you here now?”

“Because what happened in Canterlot was just the beginning of a much larger conflict that might occur. I want to make sure you are ready… And help you as well…” With the wave of a hand, Glave showed something else this time. “Are you aware of the weapons you wield and the gods that this world knows of?”

“Yes to weapons, but no to gods. Why do you ask?”

“Because you’ll need a stronger blade that is just as strong as the power inside you. That’s why I called upon the creator of all weapons… The god of the forge.” Glave soon opened a gateway using his powers, looking back at the Rune Slayer. “Before we go, I must remind you that where we are going is like what you know as the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. One day here is one year in there. Take this chance now to say goodbye to your friends for right now.”

Nicko nodded his head. He went into the room nearby where Anson, Eris and Moondancer were, briefly telling them that he needed to be somewhere for the time being. With that taken care of, Nicko returned to Glave and the two of them stepped through. On the other end of the door, both of them stepped out into a new domain. It took a moment, but then Glave spoke again.

“Welcome to the realm of time and space.”

“Holy crap… This looks… spectacular.”

“I’m glad you’re impressed. But we aren’t here to watch the stars. There are things I need to teach you and parts of your combat style that you need to adjust. Tides always turn and therefore, you need to be prepared. That is why I called upon Lord Dyntos, the god of the forge.” Glave then turned around, asking for Nicko to show his sword. He obliged, handing it to him and letting the Keeper of Time examine it.

“This is good quality craftsmanship, but I believe it can be improved… Say, have you considered enhancing it? I believe you can do it with the right token.”

Nicko raised an eyebrow. “You can use a token on it?” Glave nodded, before he spoke again. “Some tokens have other properties besides summoning a Displaced. It just depends on whose it is.”

“Can you tell which ones have those properties?” Nicko then asked.

“I can, but that means that I would need to see the tokens you do have.” The Keeper informed him. “Only by seeing them can I determine whether or not they have additional properties like I had previously said. It’s a gift that works with me since I only have one eye, but that eye can see many things.” Nicko, not knowing what he was talking about, sighed and began to take out the tokens he had acquired throughout his adventures.

The Dragon Tear from Ryu. The Hyperion Acquisition Beacon from Handsome Jack. The Tear of the Goddess from Bryce. The Dragon Soul from Neltharion. The Book that was titled “Toon World” from Maximillion Pegasus. The Holy Bone and Cherry Bomb from Amaterasu and Chibiterasu. The Hunters License from Gon. The Medallion from Sun Wukong. The Pin from Lance and lastly, the Fang of Loki. All of these tokens were pieces of the puzzle that were Nicko’s long journey. But, as Glave looked at them, one of them stood out the most to him.

“You have quite a collection, I must say.” The keeper told him, soon picking up Neltharion’s orb. “But this one here, is exactly what I think would work best for you.”

“Deathwing’s token?” Nicko asked, confused.

“Yes. This orb can do more than call upon your friend. It’ll also allow you to control the destructive elements of nature itself. An element that I believe Dyntos could put in your blade.”

“That’s Lord Dyntos to you there, timekeeper.” A new voice boomed throughout the room. “For someone of your position, I would think that you would show a little more respect. After all, you were placed in charge because of your own arrogance.”

The God of the forge lowered himself from a pedestal that was in the chamber and set himself down. Soon, he took a very long look at Nicko. Scratching his chin, he then asked a question. “So…… This is the kid you were telling me about?”

“Indeed I was Lord Dyntos.”

“He doesn’t look that ordinary for a displaced. Heck, this whippersnapper here reminds me a lot of that little angel that was here a few centuries ago.”

Nicko now just cocked an eyebrow, looking at the two of them. “Okay… can someone please explain to me something?”

“Of course…” Glave replied.

“I’m confused about the gods that you keep mentioning. I’m a little lost in translation about it.”

Dyntos sighed. “Boy, when Glave and I refer to gods, we mean the gods of other worlds that ponykind on your world have long forgotten or were never aware of. My position in power has had me meet a lot of people in the past, but not anymore. It’s rare to meet a strong soul such as yourself. It’s a little tricky to explain everything, but I promise that everything will be explained in due time.”

Nicko nodded his head, acknowledging the statement. “I’m honored to have the chance to meet you as well.” The Rune Slayer replied, causing Dyntos to crack a small smile.

“Lord Dyntos, I assume that you know why we’re here?”

“Of course.” The God replied, “But I believe that you should explain your reason why to the boy first so he knows.”

The keeper soon turned towards Nicko, taking a deep breath. “Yes… Nicko, are you aware of Tartarus?”

“The prison that locked away any big threats to Equestria? Yeah, I was informed of it. Especially when I was brought up to speed on the Tirek Incident.”

“Good, then this might make this easier… Back in Equestria’s past, before the time of Celestia and Artemis, there was a powerful Dark King that controlled a massive army of demons and almost brought the world to the brink of destruction. However, he was also the reason why Tartarus was first created. When Starswirl the Bearded was an apprentice, he challenged the King, but his power was too great for him to destroy. So, he was sealed away inside a powerful prison in which Tartarus was built around.”

“Who was he? Sombra?” Nicko asked, faintly remembering the name.

“No. He’s far worse. In fact, the essence of him was the reason why Sombra went mad and also the reason why the Esper you knew as Eric went insane as well. He uses his dark magic to grant the desires of the weak and corrupts them internally. Like a poison spreading through their body. The reason why he is sealed and had not broken out for over 1200 years is because of the three keys that were used to keep him inside his cell. He has been waiting patiently in order to be freed. Now though, he has begun his plan to do so.”

“How?”

“The hooded chaser you know as Arma. He’s being tricked by him. The king told him that he would help return him to his family if he did his bidding.”

“Well damn…… Hang on a second.” Nicko spoke again upon realizing something. “You keep telling me about this king, but you never said who he actually was. Can you at least tell me that?”

Glave himself sighed. “His name…… is Ran. To prepare you for him, you need your weapon to be strong enough in order to slay demons. Therefore, that’s where Lord Dyntos comes in.”

“That’s right, Sonny.” He exclaimed. “In order for you to get a stronger blade from me, you need to prove your mettle by passing a couple of trials. The catch is that each trial is different and you can’t use the sword that you’re holding now or the tokens you have on you. You need to use a different weapon and I have quite a selection for you to pick from.” With a snap, two huge weapon racks appeared from either side of the God of the Forge, having Nicko look as a wide selections of weapons for him to choose from. Out of all of them though, he needed to look for something that fitted him personally. It couldn’t be too heavy, nor too light. Plus, he needed to feel comfortable while fighting with it. Taking his time, he examined one of them, picking it up from the grip and holding it carefully.

“That one is known as Immortal Order.” Dyntos told him. “Most of the designs that I make for the weapons are based off of experiences that I see from people’s memories. They make quite interesting blueprints if you ask me.” It seemed impressive. However, Nicko could tell that it wasn’t his kind of weapon. The grip was weird and the blade itself wasn’t the normal length he was use to. In Elsword, his class would use Greatswords. This blade would more likely be used by Leo if he was around.

Placing the weapon back, he now turned to the Forge god and asked him a question. “Do you have any long swords by chance, Lord Dyntos?”

“Ask and you shall receive.” Dyntos replied, snapping his finger again as a bunch of weapons that were on the rack before had dissipated, leaving only a few of them left that met the specifications that Nicko asked for. Now though, Nicko found a possible contender.

“Hmm…… Even weight… strong grip… sharp edge…”

“Made of Saronite as well.” Dyntos added on. “Well, would you this be your final choice?”

“Hmm……” Nicko thought to himself, holding the weapon and going through the normal attacks he would go with. “Yeah. I’ll stick with this one. Does it have a name?”

“Actually, it does not. You can give it one if you wish.” He offered.

“Nah. I’ll wait til after the trials. A weapons name should be earned, not given.” Nicko told the Forge god, looking back at Glave. “Alright, I’m ready.”

The room around him began to change as a new domain began to take shape. But in the instance of it all, Glave continued to speak. “Your first trial will focus on your primary skills as a Rune Slayer. Swordsmanship and Sorcery. You must use both of those skills in order to overcome both of your opponents.”

Nicko was calm at first, but then, he realized a segment of Glave’s sentence that made no sense to him. “Wait… both?”

That’s when two surges of energy bursted into the room. The first one being pure fire and the second one being blood red magic. Nicko saw this before, but in this circumstance, what he was seeing was impossible.

There were two Amy’s. One of them a Blazing Heart. The other a Crimson Avenger. And both of them were trying to kill him.

“Okay, WHAT THE HELL!? This isn’t possible!”

“I know that, Sonny. But who said that these are actually your friend?” Dyntos voice echoed the room as he spoke.

“Wait a second… You made them?”

“They might be forgeries, but they’re close enough to the real thing. Now, less talking and more fighting, you dunce!” At the moment Nicko snapped back to reality, he had to immediately parry and counter the Sword of the Blazing Heart as she attacked first. The other one, who Nicko referred to as “Bloody Amy” came in next and used her blood magic to try and cripple the Rune Slayer. However, Nicko dodged at the last second and rolled away from the two of them. When he tried to use his magic, some things weren’t working the way he wanted it too and this almost lead to him getting his shoulder cleaved.

In that instance though, He remembered something from Ryu, looking back at when he told them that he could only teach him three ability.

[Movement] is the augmentation of your actions using the skills and spells that you already know. [Chain] is the ability to link spells to strengthen the next sequence or combine them to create something new. Last is [Variant], the ability to recreate spells of others through observation and theory.

[Variant] was the one that he tried to learn and understand on his own, but it wasn’t working for him. He needed something for him to work, but it just wasn’t working for him.

Then, he saw Bloody Amy cast Brutal Cutter, an attack that let the magic of the wielder wrap their weapon in a brutal glow. It was almost like when he saw Ryu conjure a [Mind Sword] during his training all those years ago. The burning need to combat her weapon and to use the skill best fit for the situation caused his magic to be channeled around him. He didn’t care if Rune Slayers weren’t able to do it, but he ignored the consequences. He let his strength take hold, channeling the magic that he was trying to conjure as he let it rip right through him.

“ARMAGEDDON BLADE!!!”

This skill… was not one that a Rune Slayer could use. Nor an Infinity Sword. But it was one that could be only acquired by those who took on the last branch of Elsword’s class tree. The Lord Knight. It was a class that solely reflected on swordsmanship and was also said to reflect the user's “dark side” because of the ferocity they showed on the battlefield. How Nicko himself was able to successfully pull off the skill was even a mystery to him. But, it gave him a major advantage in fighting against the two clones of Amy he was up against.

However, with a lot of his skills like Phoenix Talon, this one had a time limit. And that was twenty seconds. Within those twenty seconds though, he was able to weaken the defenses of the Blazing Heart version of Amy and destroy the other one after shattering her Claymore. What he focused on now though was trying to best her. And to do that, he thought the best way to fight fire… was with fire.

Since this version of his friend fought with pure fire, Nicko decided to use the element to his advantage as he fought against his opponent by having fire form around his blade as he slashed and swiped at her from all angles when he broke her defenses. He even used fire around his feet, putting a literal definition on the phrase “Trailblazer”.

As Nicko broke the Blazing Heart and watched it turn to dust, Glave then spoke again. “Well done… I never thought you would catch on quickly. But… I wonder… How were you able to use the skill of a Lord Knight just then?”

“Well…… It felt like I needed to have something to combat my opponents and match the enchantments that they used, so yeah… First time that my teacher’s training got me that far.”

“That being Ryu correct…… Now that makes sense…”

Nicko at that moment, raised an eyebrow. “What makes sense?”

“How you did it… Ryu told you about how he acquired his spells, but he never told you what was required in order to do so.”

“Required?” he asked, not knowing what he meant.

“In that moment, you said you needed to have something to combat them. That need was the key. The desire to take a skill from someone and something and make it yours. That, my friend, is the requirement you need…”

“So… I need [Greed]?”

“To put it specifically yes. But, it doesn’t mean that you need to use it all the time. Try using your skills in other various methods. Lord Dyntos was impressed with your previous performance. So he increased the difficulty of the next trial.”

“Great…” Nicko’s sarcastically replied.“What’s next?”

“I’m only choosing to hear you by your words and not your tone, sonny.” Dyntos’ voice echoed throughout the room. “Now, with the next challenge, it’s going to be you against a massive battalion of demons. Survive and I might let your Chaotic friend join you on the last trial.”

“Eris? Well alright, I’m a little more convinced now!” Nicko grinned, holding his blade firmly as massive shadows began to spawn around him. He recognized these kinds of demons before since they were the same kind as the ones on Elsword. They were mostly shadows from the continent of Hamel and also referred to as “Shadow Port” demons because they lingered around major shipping industries and were known to meddle with the weather so they could sink ships.

The first few monsters that appeared were Voiders, Chargers, and Walkers. Voiders resembled snakes and could use magic bolts to not only hurt a target, but heal themselves. Chargers were heavy brutes that charged in head first and had a very mighty grip that would take some time to break out of. Lastly, Walkers were the main enemies that had moderate attack power, but could swarm in groups. Seeing the first few opponents now, Nicko prepared a plan of attack in regards to dealing with each of these foes.

Step 1: Avoid the Chargers and save them for last. Start by going for the Voiders because attacking them can disrupt the channeling of their magic.

Step 2: Quickly defeat the walkers. If they land an attack, it might attract the attention of the Chargers.

Step 3: Destroy the Chargers and don’t let them grab you. If they do, they’ll immobilize you for a brief period of time.

Using his plan, the Rune Slayer hacked through each of the opponents one by one as the first wave of opponents turned into shadows. However, when wave 2 got started, a few shots of arcane energy almost struck from afar as he looked at his attackers.

“Well sh*t… Snipers.” The warrior had to roll out of the way out of the oncoming blasts from the fourth demon type that he could now see. Snipers, as in their name, could fire long range piercing bolts of magic and do massive damage if they aren’t dealt with immediately. Now, there were two of them along with a huge Charger that was going towards the Rune Slayer. Out of instinct though, Nicko kicked the demon in the midsection and used it’s massive size as the perfect cover to block incoming fire as he threw the Charger at the first Sniper and took out the second one using Luna Blade.

For the next ten minutes or so, more enemies continued to spawn in various different ways, making it an endurance contest between them and the Swordsman. However, whatever he was put up against, Nicko destroyed with ease. By the time the demons stopped spawning though, he saw what appeared to be a ring on the ground.

“Hmm, I’ll just keep this just in case.” He told himself, placing the piece of jewelry in his pocket.

“Well done. You’ve made it this far, whippersnapper. But you still have one more trial to go. As promised though, your friend Eris can join you.” Within seconds, the Draconequus that was mentioned soon ended up crashing on top of Nicko. Looking like something tried to pile up on top of him.

“Oh… Hi there, Nicky.”

“Oww… Back… Hurts…”

“Oh sorry. One question though… where the heck are we?”

“I don’t really think I have time to explain. Just look inside my head and you’ll probably find what you’re looking for.” Nicko’s suggestion was followed up by a smile from Eris as she soon disappeared into him. “Okay, Lord Dyntos. I remember you saying that there are three trials and I already passed two. What do I need to do now?”

“Simple… You need to win this next fight… But, there may be a surprise in store on who you are fighting.” Dyntos told him, ending his reply with a small laugh as two pillars of blue fire erupted from the center of the room, It was from there though that Nicko saw two figures step out, but couldn’t tell who they were because of the fact that the area had dramatically decreased the lighting.

“Okay this is just crazy! Eris, Can you make any sense of this at all?”

“My guess is, judging from the recent memories I saw, that these two might be creations from that old geezer, Dyntos”

“It’s also the most incorrect,” Dyntos interjected, startling the two of them since they were talking to each other mentally. “I just simply invited these two in order to test you. They wanted to move back to Equestria again along with the rest of their family and seeing that I’m testing you, I thought it would be a nice way to shake things up for you, Sonny.” It was during then that Nicko not only had to deflect projectiles from his opponents, but block incoming attacks from some… familiar weaponry. Two Gunblades and a pair of claws.

“Okay, that’s it. I’m not fighting in the dark like this.” Nicko growled, channeling fire in his hands as he concentrated his power. “PHOENIX TALON”

The rising phoenix that burst forth from him soon lit up the entire room. Half of it was now covered in blue fire while the other half being red. It was only then though that both of his attackers stopped, the shorter one taking off their hood to look at him. Going as far as to actually talk as well, trying to tell her companion to stop his next attack.

“Oh my god… Luke stop!! That’s Nicko!!!”

The name soon rang through Nicko’s head like a gong as he stood his ground, blocking the incoming sword. What he saw though shortly afterwards caused him to drop his guard.

“M-mom?! Dad!!? What are you two doing here?!”

“Like I told you, Sonny. I invited them. I told them that they were needed to help someone with passing an important trial and they agreed to come. The only thing that they didn’t know was that the person doing the trial… was you. Call it a surprise.”

“You have a twisted sense of humor, you know that?” Nicko shot back.

“I have been told that before, yes. Though, I don’t think they explained why.” All this got was a facepalm from Nicko as he looked back at his parents and gave them a nice warm hug. He had not seen them in so long that it felt like tears were going to flow from his eyes. Soon though, the emotional moment was put on hold as both Glave and the Forge God soon appeared in front of the three of them.

“Congratulations, Nicko. You passed…”

“Wait… I thought the third trial was suppose to be me beating both of my parents?”

“Yes, but that wasn’t actually the real test. The real test was to see how good you can restrain yourself in situations like these.” Glave told him. With a finger, he lifted the blade that Dyntos had prepared for him and gave it to him. “As a reward, you’re allowed to keep both the sword you’re holding now and this one. In addition, you can summon the blade you wish to use by calling upon it’s name. We will let you choose the name’s you wish to give them though.”

“I actually already had an idea in mind…” Nicko said as he held both swords briefly. Holding his original one, he then looked at Dyntos. “This one should be called Rovaniik while the other one should be named Ebalon.”

“A wise choice for both of them. In addition, Ebalon will be enhanced with the strength from your willpower. Use them well.” The Forge god told him, having the blades fade away. “You are free to go. However, your parents will need to stay. For them to be brought up to speed on current events.”

Nicko was unsure about what the Forge God had told him, but soon, his parents gave him a brief nod of approval, saying that they’ll be back as soon as possible. For now, he went back through the gateway back to where he had came through originally, just in time to see Faith and Moondancer waiting for them. Looking at both of them, he soon smiled. Specifically though, what he said to Moondancer gave the mare quite a shock.

“Well, why don’t we begin with teaching you the basics of my magic? You are my student after all.” Moondancer herself smiled as they all kept each other company, helping the Unicorn learn the most rare and strongest of magic. One single spell at a time.

End Log 15

Author's Notes:

With this chapter, I was stuck on quite a few things. Mostly because I wanted to pick up on where we left off on the last chapter and the reason why Nicko decided to go there. But, I also gained some influences based on the new changes that came to the Rune Slayer Class in the Korean version of Elsword. Which included new attacks and combinations as well as rebalancing the skill tree. So, I went along with this as a way for Nicko to relearn his important skills, acquire new ones and overcome challenges that he previously had difficulty with.

Another thing I decided to include was Dyntos, God of the Forge and Glave, the timekeeper. I had their roles be similar to what they are in their respected games. But, I thought that since Dyntos is known as the creator of all weapons that his workshop would be in the center of the multiverse. As for Glave, I kept most of his lore the same and it is the reason why Dyntos refers back on his past mistakes.

From Elwiki: Glave was once human but was punished for delving too deep into its secrets by the 'creator' and can no longer feel human emotion, as well as irrepairable damage done to his right eye.

The creator in this instance is Henir. More will be revealed on Glave in time, but enough on that, lets focus on Nicko. Out of this experience, he now can change swords that he acquires by calling upon their name. However, since he isn't an infinity sword like his brother, whenever he calls upon one weapon, the previous one disappears. This is based of how Equip Magic works in Fairy Tail.

I got some more plans for this story, so please stay tuned. Oh and the ring that Nicko acquired... That's also important too. Why though? That'll be explained later on.

Log 16- Wild Frontier

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Of Magic and Machines- Wild Frontier

Castle of Friendship (Nicko’s world)

Some time had passed since the young Rune Slayer had to endure the trials given to him by Dyntos, God of the Forge. Since returning, Nicko had decided to spend time with his new apprentice, Moondancer, along with being in the presence of his brother Anson and his niece, Faith. Eris herself was planning on have a little bit of “girl time” with Pinkie Pie, Amy, Molly and Jane so she could relax her weary bones. Nicko, on the other hand, wanted to get the chance to spend some quality “family time” with his brother and niece.

Currently, the Rune Slayer was explaining to Moondancer about the Displaced. He was recalling some of the most recent travels he had been on where he and his brother, his niece, or just himself was summoned by another Displaced. Nicko just wanted to use the chance to get his mind off of things. Today was the 23rd of December. Meaning that tomorrow, he would hopefully be able to go back home to see his parents again. Again, this was hopefully. He was unsure if the spell he asked from Twilight would actually work given the severity of the request he asked from her. Sure, she was a princess and magic was her specialty, but going through worlds was another thing.

Anson though, noticed his brothers emotions and decided to try and have him not focus on it right now. In fact, he had found something that might do just the trick. While the two of them were in Ryu’s world and he was walking through the statue garden, the Infinity Sword found a pink like gemstone that had two eye like sparks in the middle. Sure, it might sound like an ordinary gemstone upon hearing about it at first, but when Nicko and Ryu had clashed in their “battle of wits”, the gemstone glowed and reacted to every action that the Rune Slayer had done. Every time he attacked, casted a spell or got the upper hand; the crystal pulsed. Something told Anson that this wasn’t any ordinary jewel and that somehow, it could be related to either him, Ryu, or just any dragon in general.

“Hey Brother,” He calmly interjected. “While we’re on the subject, would you mind having a look at this?” He softly tossed the pink jewel to his brother, who caught it with his right hand. “I found it while visiting Ryu’s world and I think it’s a token of some sort. It glowed and pulsed during your fight with your teacher and that glow died down when the fight was over.”

Nicko himself was surprised by the details. Not just with the description of the object from his brother, but from the looks of the jewel itself. Rarity would do anything to get her hands on one of these things. “It was reacting to my magic?”

“More or less. I think it reacted to you because you have Ryu, a dragon, as your teacher and I read in some books while you were in Canterlot that there were some gems that reacted specifically to dragon based magic.” The Infinity Sword recalled as he shared the information. “Maybe because of the fact that Ryu taught you how to perform Spell Chains?”

“It’s a possibility.” The Rune Slayer replied. He soon stretched out his hands and cracked his knuckles, channeling his magic into the jewel. It glowed just like his brother described and soon opened a doorway. “Well, what do you know? It is a token.” He turned towards Anson and Faith for a moment and then asked them a question. “Mind holding down the fort while I check things out?”

Both of them nodded their heads. A sign in which told Nicko to go through the rift. As he did and the tear in the void closed behind him, Anson smiled. “Okay, now with Nicko taking care of that, we can prepare his Heart's Warming gift.”

Faith tilted her head a little, confused. “But I thought we were going home for Heart's Warming, dad?” Anson chuckled as he turned towards his daughter.

“That’s the thing honey… For Heart’s Warming, were making Ponyville our home. I just want to wait a little before I tell your uncle. Call it a surprise if you will.

Everfree Forest (Realm of the Firebreather)

When the tear in the void opened up again, Nicko found himself in the Everfree forest. But this wasn’t his Everfree by any means. For one thing, it wasn’t covered in snow. Another was that it was dark, murky and a bit unsettling. Lastly though, the Rune Slayer’s landing happened to do one thing that he did not intend.

Crush the back of a Timberwolf.

“Oh um… Whoops?” Before long though, the rest of that one wolf’s pack began to arrive. Little by little until there was like thirty of them around him. Staring at him fiercely with an intent to kill him.

“Okay now…” Nicko sighed, summoning one of his two swords. Rovaniik. He gripped the handle of the blade tight as he placed it on his shoulder. “Seems like I’m going to have to teach you boys some new tricks.” His blade began to pulse as he adopted a combat stance and the first few wolves lunged at him. Claws and teeth at the ready.

“Lesson one… PLAY DEAD!!!”

Meanwhile…

Duncan yawned and stretched as he woke up, heading downstairs once again to the bottom floor of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Nabbing an apple muffin off the table on his way out the door, he made a beeline straight for the nearest tree to begin work for the day.

After a few hours of punching trees right in the knot, he heard a bunch of odd noises coming from the nearby Everfree. Duncan looked between the apple trees and the Everfree for a bit before shrugging and deciding to investigate, he was sure Applejack wouldn’t get too upset at him for taking a five-minute break.

He took off at a run, his Kaiju-enhanced speed getting him to the edge of the forest within a couple minutes. He peered inside for a bit, trying to figure out what had made the sounds. After a few minutes of fruitless searching he shrugged and walked in, keeping an eye out for any Timberwolves or other dangerous wildlife.

Another few minutes of travel later and he heard the sound of breaking branches and Timberwolf growls. He also heard what sounded like someone talking to the Timberwolves. Duncan walked through the foliage to get closer, figuring that he’d never really find anything out by just waiting around.

Once he got through the foliage, he heard a loud shout. One that didn’t sound like a Timberwolf at all. “SWORD FIRE!!”

The next moment, a powerful fire filled shock-wave went off, sending a few timberwolves flying several feet behind Duncan and one that almost hit him if he hadn’t moved at the last second. “Woah, that was awesome!” Duncan exclaimed, “Wonder what threw those twig dogs away?”

He began moving forward again, eager to find out who had shouted. After another few minutes, he found the source of the voice and the flying Timberwolves. As another two of them sprung forth, a young warrior in a Red cloak used what seemed to be magic to hold off his attackers as a rune in his hands exploded, throwing the beasts into a nearby tree. Before long though, one last timberwolf came at him and with it, the warrior swung at him like his sword was a baseball bat.

Sending the wolf into Duncan’s face. Duncan blinked when the Timberwolf exploded on contact with his head, the pieces flying off somewhere behind him as he thanked his awesome half-kaiju durability. He whistled slightly, looking around at all of the Timberwolf pieces littering the clearing. “Wow, they really picked a bad fight, huh?” He joked, walking over to the somewhat shorter person.

Nicko was surprised to see the other human like individual as he dismissed his sword with his magic. “You can say that. Not to be rude, but who are you exactly?” He asked, folding his arms.

Duncan put one of his hands out with a smile, “Duncan Rosenblatt at your service, nice to meet you.” He greeted with a friendly tone. “What’s your name?”

“Nicko. Nicko Nocte.” He replied, offering a hand to shake.

Duncan firmly shook the offered hand, “Nice to meet you little guy.” He said, looking down a bit to meet the warrior’s eyes. What he didn’t realize was that the comment he made caused Nicko’s ears to twitch. To the Firebreather’s surprise, the Rune Slayer soon tightened his grip and then pulled Duncan towards him before throwing him with enough force to cause the ground to shake.

“Next time, pick your words a little more carefully.” He said, cleaning a little bit of dirt from his clothes.

Duncan got off of the tree that had broke his fall, and just broke, popping his back as he stretched. “Got it.” He replied, checking his coat over for any damage and sighing with relief when he found none. “So what are you doing here anyways?” the Firebreather asked curiously.

Nicko sighed, going into one of his pockets. “Well, that’s sort of complicated. I’m assuming that you are a Displaced?” When he finished the sentence, he pulled out the jewel that Duncan could immediately recognize. One that looked like the gem that he got seconds before ending up in Equestria.

Duncan grinned as he recognized it, “Oh, yeah. That’s mine, I just made it yesterday in fact.” He replied. “Cool that someone’s already gotten ahold of one.”

Nicko grinned a little, partially showing his teeth. “Well, I guess that answers my question.” However, one thing that distracted Duncan was that while looking at Nicko, he could see a silhouette of another being. One that looked almost like him. But he had blue hair, a serious expression and a different set of clothes along with a Katana blade. “You know, you sort of make me think of my teacher actually.”

Duncan scratched the side of his face in confusion, “Why’s that?” He asked. “Did he act kind of like me or something?”

“He’s a dragon. He has a human appearance, but can take on multiple forms and also become a dragon.” Nicko replied.

Duncan nodded, “Yeah, that does kinda sound like me. Except the dragon part…” He grinned, “I met a few dragons when I got here though. They were being a bunch of jerks, so I hit them with a tree.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint you on that part, but Ryu’s a jerk. But it’s for a reason. He’s been alive for a LONG time and is also Applejack’s uncle in his world.” Nicko told him. “But he’s the one who actually taught me how to fight better and how to use my spells in different ways. Ryu isn’t the only dragon I met though. There is one other one that I know who also has a lot of weight on his shoulders…”

Duncan scratched his head, “Applejack’s uncle?” He asked, “Is he like a really small dragon, or is it an honorary thing?”

“He’s taller than me, lived over 1000 years and is referred to as a Elder Dragon. He prefers to go by the title of Kaiser though.” Nicko replied. “Let’s just say he’s very… blunt in terms of speaking. How he teaches his lessons is not through telling you how to do things, but by having you figure it out while he’s attacking you. Not to mention he can combine his spells together to form new powers.”

“Woah..” Duncan blinked, “That sounds like pretty tough training… I just kinda experiment with my powers and stuff.” He said thoughtfully.

“Experimentation is one thing. Actually getting it to where you find out what works for you is another thing. Neltharion though, he’s different.” Nicko said, remembering the Earth-Warden.

“Different how?” Duncan asked curiously.

“He’s the size of a freaking mountain. The Avatar of the world. The World Given form. The Cataclysm. Those are only some of the names he has. One though, might cause a chill to go down your spine and I had his token be socketed in my sword, Rovaniik.” He said. Rovaniik was only one of two swords he had. In the dragon language, it meant Wanderer. But thanks to Neltharion's token, the earth and nature around him could bend to his will.

“And that name is…?” Duncan prompted.

“Deathwing.”

Duncan did indeed shudder slightly, wondering what kind of thing he could’ve done to earn that name. Nicko soon threw an index card the size of a piece of paper. On it was the dragon he was referring to.

“Have a look for yourself.”

Duncan caught the card, looking at it carefully. “Well, he’s definitely intimidating.” He agreed with wide eyes.

“Once you get to know him though, he’s quite interesting. And that’s just only two of the Displaced that I’ve met. Besides having to take a temporary break when I got myself turned to stone briefly.”

Duncan nodded for a bit until the last sentence caught up with him, “Wait what?”

“Long story short, a psychotic Esper that wanted to take revenge on the Royal Siblings deflected a blast from the elements of harmony towards my brother, I took the hit instead, and I wake up seven years later. Ironically, the one who got me out of stone was my brother’s daughter, so now I’m an uncle. Other then that, I met some… interesting people.”

“Cool.” Duncan replied, “Hey you wanna move this discussion out of the Everfree?” He asked, looking around.

“If you want. Lead the way I guess.”

Duncan grinned before walking back the way he’d come from, towards Sweet Apple Acres. On the way back, Duncan could see Applejack, who seemed to be looking for him. “There you are, Duncan-. Who or what in tarnations is that?” She asked, pointing a finger at Nicko.

“Hey Applejack, sorry for leaving the field during work-hours, but I found somebody fighting those twig dogs in the Everfree. His name is Nicko!” Duncan replied, introducing his new friend. Nicko did a simple wave with his hand, following that up by saying, “Hello there.”

“Howdy, nice to meet a friend of Duncan’s ah guess. Though ah gotta ask why you were in the Everfree, if ya don’t mind explaining.” She replied, raising a brow curiously as she waved back.

“Let’s just say I was traveling and ended up landing on top of a timberwolf. Had to fight the rest of the pack and teach old dogs new tricks. Specifically, rolling over and playing dead.”

Applejack blinked, “Ah guess that makes sense.” She replied, scratching her head. “How are ya able to defend yourself though?”

“Oh I used my magic… and one of my swords.”

Duncan chuckled, “Yeah he was sending those things flying all over the place. One of those twig dogs smashed right into my head, even.”

Applejack shook her head, “Somehow, ah don’t think I really wanna know anymore. Ain’t worth the headache.” She sighed, “Just make sure ya get your work done for the day Duncan.”

Duncan snapped a mock salute, “Will do!”

Applejack walked back towards the field, only to soon see Nicko mess with his magic by briefly channeling a small rune before dismissing it. Looking at it, she soon thought that the moment Twilight saw him, she would be all over him about what he was capable of. Nicko soon walked over to the bottom of a tree and cracked open a book he had on him. His spellbook. The Rune Slayer was taking the time to look over some of his skills and refresh his memory. Still though, this didn’t come without anypony not noticing. Soon though, Applejack soon noticed a familiar face. She personally cursed her timing on thinking about Twilight. For she was walking down the road towards the Orchard’s entrance.

Twilight hummed a bit as she walked towards Sweet Apple Acres, a quill and several stacks of parchment following along in the grip of her magic. She figured that it would be best to learn as much about Duncan as possible, seeing as he was quite possibly a new species of some sort. Besides, she wanted to send Princess Celestia a letter with more than ‘an unknown hybrid saved me and my friends by smacking dragons with a tree.’.

She walked through the gate, looking around for any sign of Duncan or Applejack. Noticing Applejack over in the fields, she started heading towards her orange friend while giving a wave in greeting and calling out her name. “Hey Applejack!”

“Howdy Twilight!” the Earth Pony replied. “What brings you to Sweet Apple Acres?” She personally already knew the answer, but asked anyways.

“Well I figured I would check to see how Duncan was settling in and maybe ask a few questions. You know, figure out a bit more on his capabilities and personality.”

“There may be a bit more to figure out than you might think. Duncan happened to make a friend this morning.” Applejack told her, nodding her head in Nicko’s direction.

“Do you think he might be a ‘Half-Kaiju’ like Duncan?” Twilight questioned curiously, looking over at the reading Rune Slayer.

“No. He’s a different case. Especially if he, from what he told me, took on a pack of timberwolves and lived to tell the tale.” As Applejack spoke, Nicko turned another page in the book. Now at the section with the notes from Starswirl the Bearded on Runic Magic. Notes that only he and one other pony back in his world could read.

“Did he say how he did that?” The purple unicorn asked, looking at Applejack.

“He said he used his magic and a sword. But I don’t-.” At that second, Nicko summoned the sword that he used earlier to inspect it after reviewing some attacks involving the use of his weapon. “-Okay, ah take that back. He does have a sword.”

Twilight looked at the newly materialized sword with a critical eye, already attemtping to decipher what sort of spell he could’ve used. “Maybe some sort of pocket dimension spell? no, no…” After about five minutes of muttering to herself, she decided to just go over and ask.

Walking up to Nicko, she cleared her throat slightly. “Excuse me?” She asked politely.

Nicko looked up, closing the book and dismissing the blade. “Yes, Miss? How can I help you?”

“I was wondering how you managed to simply vanish and rematerialize your sword. What kind of spell do you use?” She asked eagerly..

“Honestly, I just summoned them. They are enchanted swords.” Nicko said back. This though, didn’t satisfy Twilight’s curiosity.

“Well I suppose that would make sense..” Twilight replied with a nod, “But what kind of enchantments are on them?”

“I wouldn’t know. I just summon them by calling their name. Then again, Dyntos did reforge my main sword and allowed me to keep the blade I used during his trials.” He said to himself. The name he mentioned peaked the pony’s attention. Curious to find out who’s this Dyntos person he mentioned.

“Dyntos?” Twilight asked, “Is he some sort of unicorn blacksmith?”

“You’re a little off. He’s the god of the forge and maker of all weapons.” He told her. The sound of the word god cause Twilight’s eyes to widen. For a moment, she just stared at him in shock. Nicko honestly thought that he caused her to crash.

Twilight blinked, her mouth opening and closing on occasion but no sound escaped. After a few minutes, she managed to gather her thoughts and ask an actual question. “A god!?” Though it wasn’t the most intelligent question she’s ever asked.

“Yeah. That only happened yesterday for me, so I don’t really remember all the details.” He turned to his right, noticing Duncan. While Twilight was stuck in thought, he walked over to him. “Duncan, I think I caused your Twilight to flip out.”

The Firebreather waved a hand in front of Twilight’s face, taking note of her expression of shock, “I think you broke her Nicko.”

“Well, great. All she did was ask me who made my weapons and now she crashed like a computer on windows vista. Perfect…” He sighed. Duncan, was personally curious about what exactly Nicko said to Twilight to cause her to shut down.

“So what did you say to her?” the orange scaled hybrid asked, poking Twilight’s shoulder in an effort to get a response.

“I told her that Dyntos made my weapons and when I told her who he was, she flipped. That’s what I get for telling her about the God of the Forge.”

“A god, huh?” Duncan replied, putting a hand to his chin, “Yeah, I guess that’d be pretty surprising for just about anybody.”

“Yeah. I had to pass his trials in order to get my stuff.” Nicko said. “Three, hard, trials. Not to mention the third trial involved fighting my parents… Yeah, my parents are actually Displaced as well.”

The Firebreather nodded, “Cool. Well… Not cool that you had to fight them, but pretty cool that your parents are Displaced.” He blinked as he remembered something, “Oh hey, speaking of which… If you ever meet someone name Tony or Dante, their actual names not their Displaced, could you let me know? They’re like my best friends, and I’m pretty sure that at least Tony got Displaced too.”

“Sure, if I come across them. Otherwise then that, I’m not sure where they might be. Besides, like I said before, I met a LOT of Displaced. One of them that happens to be Handsome Jack.”

Duncan shrugged, “That’s all I can really ask, the whole ‘if you come across them’ thing, ya know? Anyways, Handsome Jack huh? I sorta remember him, I didn’t really play Borderlands much before getting Displaced though. It was a fun game, but it was just a bit lower on my list since I prefer Fantasy over Sci-fi.”

“Wait til you meet Loki. He’ll definitely make your head spin.”

The orange displaced blinked, “Literally or Figuratively?” He asked curiously. “Because I’m pretty sure Loki is the name of some sort of… What was it, Norse? Norse trickster god.”

“He’s a Displaced Discord. A Draconequus… You weren’t told about him now were you?”

“Wait, what’s a Draconequus?” Duncan wondered, scratching his head.

“Spirit of Chaos. He has the talon of a hawk, paw of a lion and other numerous animals parts that are part of his body. Since he controls chaos, logic doesn’t apply to him. One time, I heard he made it rain chocolate.”

The scaled hybrid grinned, “That sounds awesome! Do you think he could make it rain Chocolate Muffins instead?” He asked, drooling slightly as he imagined the skies raining down chocolate muffins.

“The only limit he has is his imagination-. Oh hey, Twilight’s back.” Nicko said, the Rune Slayer pointing at the Unicorn. “You might want to wait a bit before mentioning Discord though. He’s… thrown this world into chaos before. Something tells me that with time, he’ll be reformed. Let’s keep that between us for now.”

Duncan nodded, “No problem dude, my lips are sealed.” He then waved at Twilight, “Hey Twilight, welcome back from… Wherever it is you just went.”

Twilight groaned, “Duncan, in the three days I’ve known you, you’ve already proven to be able to cause nearly as many headaches as Pinkie…”

Duncan shrugged, “I didn’t even know she caused headaches, she seemed nice enough to me.”

The unicorn sighed, shaking her head and deciding not to bother with that. “Forget it.”

“Be thankful you haven’t met Amy.” Nicko muttered. “She’s a bit… Reckless. Think Deadpool, but different.”

The Firebreather blinked, “Different how? Like, less violent or just more random?”

“Think her making the walls of a classroom look like blood is dripping down and her pretending to stick herself in a wall, asking ‘Hey kids! Wanna see a dead body!?’. That’s only the tip of the Iceberg.”

“Okay…” Duncan shook his head, “That’s.. Well, I’ll definitely agree that it’s different.”

Suddenly there was a huge roar that pierced the air, causing Duncan’s eyes to widen. “Oh you have got to be kidding me.”

Nicko, hearing that, summoned his second blade Ebalon and turned around. “Friends of yours?”

The Firebreather shook his head, “No, definitely not. Not if that was what I think it is.”

“Well, whatever it is- OH SH*T!” Now what Duncan was thinking about was coming into view. “Is THAT what you think it is?”

Duncan looked at the approaching creature with a frown, shrugging off his jacket and placing it on a nearby tree branch. “Unfortunately, yes.”

“Well, I was getting a little bored standing around.” Nicko smirked, two runes glowing at the bottom of his shoes before launching forth in a burst of speed.

“Right behind ya on that one!” Duncan replied, shifting into his second form with a grin and running towards the Kaiju. Nicko watched the beast burst forth from the ground and jumped to the side as it’s tail slammed down. As it turned, the tail smacked Duncan into a mountainside.

Nicko, seeing this, moved forward, placing a rune on the ground where the tail then landed. On contact, the back end of it froze. A trick with Nicko’s Ice Rune that he used to hinder an opponent's mobility. Now, he just hoped that Duncan could get back up from being knocked back.

Duncan pulled himself out of the crater he had made on impact, shaking his head with a frown. He quickly ran back down towards the Kaiju, his enhanced speed getting him there just after it’s tail had been frozen, “TAKE THIS YOU JERK!” He shouted, smashing into the frozen tail at full speed, shattering it.

The Kaiju roared in pain and anger, swiping at the half-kaiju and it’s ally. The Firebreather quickly back-flipped, landing a large distance away before blasting the creature with his flames. However, one second later, the monster that was there disappeared.

“Ah great. It’s a burrower.” Nicko growled to himself, calling the monster the nickname he thought of after thinking about Rek’Sai from League of Legends. Before even getting the chance to think, he felt the ground rumble beneath them. “It’s under you-!”

Before Duncan could hear the Rune Slayer’s response, the Kaiju burst from the ground under the Firebreather, grabbing hold of him. Nicko, thinking quickly, focused his next spell towards the monster’s claws that held his friend and fellow Displaced. Casting Wind Blade, a huge astral sword sprung forth, cutting off the Kaiju’s claw and freeing him.

The Kaiju roared in pain, stumbling back as it held the stump that used to hold it’s claw.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Duncan replied, “I was going to break his fingers, but now I think I’m gonna make him hit himself.” He grinned, picking up the now detached limb and rushing at the burrowing annoyance.

“You do that, I got an idea to deal with this jerk once you stagger him.” The Rune Slayer shouted back, channeling his mana into his sword as he let the Firebreather throw his claw at the creature’s face. “I’m just going to need a bit of fire.”

The orange Hybrid jumped at the Kaiju’s head, “Hey ugly, I think this is yours!” He shouted as he swung the claw straight into the side of it’s head, making it jerk to the the side and stumble from the impact. Duncan landed next to Nicko, using the beast’s neck as a springboard. “You need fire, you’ve got it!”

Duncan’s flames had Nicko’s blade heat up like it had come straight out of the forge. Just the way he needed it. Thanks to him, the Kaiju’s neck was exposed. That was one weak point if he had ever seen one. Launching himself forth again, he swung downward, delivering the killing blow as the hot metal sliced the head of the monster clean off. “Well, no need to call Pest Control now. Let’s just hope this guy doesn’t have any… friends.”

The Firebreather sighed, “Unfortunately, he probably does. If there’s one Kaiju here, I’m willing to bet the others are somewhere too.”

“You think that any of them could be on your side?” Nicko asked. “Surely, some of them have the will to make their own choices and not be mindless drones.”

Duncan shrugged, “Well if Beloc is here, he might be on my side. Aside from that, I have no idea.”

“You mean him?” The Rune Slayer asked. Dismissing his blade and pointing behind Duncan.

Duncan spun around, looking where Nicko indicated. Though he didn’t really need to be exact, it was pretty hard to to miss that giant behemoth. “Yeah… That’s Beloc alright. Though I guess I should be calling him ‘Dad’ now.”

Now it was Nicko’s turn to react to that last comment. “Wait, what?”

The Firebreather laughed at that, “Yeah, that’s Duncan’s dad. My dad now, I guess.” He gave a little shrug, “Don’t ask how the whole ‘Kaiju + Human’ thing works though, I never found out but I don’t really think I want to know either.”

“Me neither.” Nicko thought to himself. “Why do I have the feeling that we’re in trouble?”

“Well the show’s Beloc was pretty set on testing Duncan and making him stronger.” The orange hybrid explained, “So who knows what he might do, he even threw Duncan into lava after all.”

“ … Okay, I’m just going to only ask questions when necessary. It’ll save us a LOT of time.” Nicko replied as Beloc now landed in front of the two Displaced.

“Duncan…” Beloc rumbled out, bringing his currently draconic head down to examine the Firebreather. “You are stronger than I expected, but you aren’t strong enough. You should have been able to handle him alone.”

The hybrid rolled his eyes, “See what I mean?” he said to Nicko.

“Point taken. It doesn’t hurt to have a helping hand sometimes.” The Rune Slayer shrugged, sitting down and using the dead Kaiju’s head as a chair.

Beloc growled, “Duncan needs to be able to show the Kaiju that he is strong enough on his own, if they are to ever accept him as my Heir.” He smirked slightly though, looking at the Rune Slayer. “Isn’t that chair a bit big for you, little one?”

Nicko’s ears twitched again. Now he was getting irritated. He got off the “chair” that he was sitting on before sending it flying to where it was pierced on top of a tree like a spike. All that with just a single kick. “I would like to warn you, the past few times someone referred to my height, I had to teach them a lesson in pain. Ask Duncan, he learned the hard way.”

Duncan pounded a fist into his hand, his eyes lighting up in realization. “Oh so that’s why you threw me into that tree…”

Beloc laughed, “Well at least you have strength. Size matters little when you have enough power.”

“That and my teacher was a Kaiser who’s version of training involved almost killing me.” Nicko replied.

The Kaiju’s King nodded, “That sounds like a proper training session to me.” He rumbled.

Nicko himself smiled. “Nothing better than the feeling you get when you feel alive, that’s for sure. Especially since I don’t have any healing magic.” Turning his head, he soon noticed that what was going on had attracted some attention. And by that, it included Applejack, Twilight, and the rest of her friends. Even the Princesses had just arrived by the time he noticed. “Duncan, were you planning on having an audience?”

“No, not really. Wh-...” Duncan cut himself off as he looked over at the gathered crowd. “Oh.”

Nicko sighed. “Yeah. My thoughts exactly.”

Twilight teleported up to the orange hybrid, “What is that!?” She asked, pointing at the dead creature and Beloc.

Duncan scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, “Well that-” He pointed at the dead one, “-Is a dead Kaiju. And that-” here the hybrid pointed at Beloc, “Is my Father, Beloc.”

Twilight stared, “Uh…” She looked between Duncan and Beloc a few times, “How the hay does that work?”

The Firebreather sighed, “Don’t ask… Seriously, just… Don’t.”

“I don’t think she would want to know anyway.” Nicko snickered. “If she couldn’t handle what I told her, I’m not quite sure if she could handle what you had said. I would pay a little more attention to the others though. Royalty is coming.”

The two Alicorns in the vicinity made their way over, prompted Twilight to bow. “Princesss Celestia! Princess Luna!” She exclaimed in surprise, “I hadn’t known you were coming.”

Princess Celestia patted Twilight on the back gently, “It’s quite all right Twilight, we hadn’t expected to have to make a sudden trip to Ponyville either, to be honest.”

“What brings you to Ponyville?” The purple unicorn questioned. In response, the Alicorn raised a brow, a nod of her head indicating the two Kaiju. “Oh… Right..” Twilight giggled nervously.

“I’m beginning to think that I’m one of those reasons now, aren’t I?” Nicko asked, sarcastically.

“Indeed.” the second alicorn spoke up, “Thy are are a curiosity, just as much as those creatures.”

“Which one? The one standing there or the one whose head I kicked into a tree?” Nicko asked, honestly this time.

“Both.” Princess Celestia spoke once again. “Both of those creatures are unknown to us, and to Equestria as a whole. As such, they are a curiosity.” She explained, “And you can perform magic without being a unicorn which is a second, and no less important, curiosity.”

“Hmm… Which one were you planning on finding about first? Because I believe Beloc might be losing his patience.” Nicko had noticed that the Kaiju King had been… irritated… for the past few moments and he’d rather not try to get on his bad side.

Beloc stood, shifting from a quadruped to a more bipedal form as he did so. “Indeed. I grow weary of being spoken of as though I were either mindless or absent.” He rumbled ominously, towering over everyone and everything.

“Go ahead then, I can wait.” Nicko offered. He then sat down on the ground, summoning Rovaniik to lean himself against. The Kaiju King took this as a sign for him to now speak. And speak he did.

Beloc looked down at the two creatures that he assumed to rule the rest, as made obvious by their brief interaction. “I am Beloc! King of the Kaiju.” He began, reaching down and picking up Duncan. “And this is Duncan, my Heir.” He looked at the small gathering of creatures for a moment, deciding what to say next.

“The Kaiju are an ancient race, lost to Fairytales and Legends, until even those had forgotten about us.” Beloc explained slowly. “Many of us are now waking after a long sleep, finding that the world is not as we had left it. That it has been overrun by new species.”

“Many of my kind are angry, and see you all as invaders. I have forbidden them from attacking many of the new species of this planet, but I do not know how many will obey.” Here he sighed, “Many who disagree will likely come after Duncan, seeking to challenge him for the right to succeed me. Any can challenge him at any time, as decreed by our laws. Should any of the Kaiju manage to kill him, it will be unlikely that your races will survive for long.”

Princess Celestia flew up to his head, hovering as she looked at him. “Are you not the invaders then?” She asked, “If you are as ancient as you say, would you not have given up your rights to it by leaving the world for so long?”

“You are wise, but that is not how the Kaiju see it.” Beloc rumbled with a small smile. “It is still our world. And our kind are split on how we should see it. There are those who would prefer to live peacefully, attempting to co-exist with the creatures who have claimed it.” He frowned. “And then there are those who would prefer to see it all destroyed, and to have our world reclaimed through force.”

Beloc gestured to the corpse behind him, “That is Felinon. He was of the War Faction. Unfortunately, any fight between my kind is a fight that leads to death.” He told the two pony rulers, “I know your kind detests killing, but for my kind it is nearly a necessity. I ask that you not look at my son harshly for doing what is necessary.”

The Sun Goddess fixed him with a hard look, but nodded. “Very well. But we will discuss this later. I have a feeling I will need to learn more of your kind, should they end up threatening my little ponies.” Soon, Celestia redirected her gaze back at Nicko. “For now, I have a few things to ask of you though, Mr…?”

“Nicko Nocte, your highness.” He replied, greeting her with a friendly bow after getting off of the ground and dismissing his sword. “What questions do you have for me?”

“I suppose the most obvious question, is the question of how you are able to perform magic without a horn.” Celestia replied.

“Ah the most common, yet tricky one,” Nicko started to speak. “I’m a Rune Slayer. Runic Magic is my specialty and also, like Duncan, I’m a Displaced.” Nicko then noticed a very puzzled look from Luna, who followed up with a question to his statement.

“What is this… Displaced… That thou speakest of?” The Moon Princess asked, testing the odd word.

“Displaced is short for Dimensionally Misplaced. There’s a scientific theory involving the possibility of many versions of different worlds. I just happened to be from one of them. Because where I’m from… things are quite different.”

“The Multiverse Theory?” Twilight asked eagerly. “That’s real?”

“You’re in a world of magic? The line between real and not real is pretty thin. Especially since in my world, Luna is a guy. Gonna have to tell Artemis about that next time I see him...”

Duncan laughed at Twilight’s sheepish expression, and Luna’s fish impression. “Yeah, I’m surprised you really manage to doubt much of anything!” Duncan yelled before jumping off of his dad’s hand. “I mean, Magic. That’s pretty much already able to bend the rules of like… Everything, right?”

“Magic has limits depending on the type.” Nicko replied to Duncan. “Mine though is different because I am pretty much the only one who can channel it. The only other pony who could conjure it is dead.”

“Well even if each type has their limitations; in general Magic can pretty much do anything, right?” The hybrid prodded.

“Wait…” Twilight said, pushing Duncan’s inquiry to the side. “Who was the other pony who used your type of magic?” She asked Nicko.

“Starswirl the Bearded. In fact, my spellbook has what remains of his notes.” Nicko replied. “However, since it’s written in Runic, only I can read it.”

Twilight joined Luna in her imitations of a fish, looking at him in shock.

Duncan waved a hand in front of her face, getting no response. He looked at his fellow Displaced with a raised brow. “You broke her again Nicko.”

“Dang it. That’s twice today.” Hearing that, Nicko noticed a certain cyan pegasus uncontrollably laughing her flank off as she looked at the expressions of both the Unicorn and Alicorn. “Well, someone finds it hilarious.”

The Firebreather chuckled, “You do have to admit that ‘Imitation fish’ is a pretty funny look for them.” He said with a grin. Only to realize that one other princess was in the vicinity. Duncan looked over at Celestia quickly, “Er… No offense.”

The white Alicorn waved it off, “It has been quite a while since I have seen my little sister bear a look of shock. I’ll agree that it is quite amusing.”

“Yeah… Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to break them like that. Plus, there’s a lot of things that might break almost everypony. Including you I think.” Nicko was unsure about saying the last part, but to his surprise, Celestia was curious.

“I highly doubt that.” Celestia told him, “Though I would like to know what sort of things you think could possibly shock me that much.”

“Well… you are married and have two kids.”

“Married? Married to who, exactly?” The Sun Goddess asked.

“Discord.”

And so Celestia joined her sister and student in imitating a fish.

“Well, I broke three ponies. That’s a new record.” Nicko said, sighing to himself. Shifting in his pockets, he pulled out his own token. A Rune Slayer’s mark. “Hey Duncan, I think I’m going to have to take my leave. Keep this.”

When the Firebreather turned around, quick reflexes was all he needed in order to catch the token that was tossed his way. “It’s my token. If you need me or anything like that, just use it and I’ll come on by. Now… if you would excuse me, I need to talk to my Discord about something important.” With that, Nicko used his token to tear a brief hole in the void before stepping in and disappearing. As he left, Pinkie Pie soon walked over, looking at the three fish faced ponies with overwhelming curiosity.

“Oooh. I wonder what’s gotten the Princesses and Twilight so puffered up.” she giggled to herself at the pun as she examined the three ponies. “Any ideas, Duncan?”

The Firebreather thought about it for a bit, “Well when I’m in shock, I know a good muffin or a hug snaps me right out of it! Usually anyways.” So saying, he went over and pulled Twilight into a hug.

“Hmm… oh I know!! GROUP HUG!!” Pinkie exclaimed, stretching out to hug both Twilight and Duncan at the same time.

Duncan laughed, managing to free one of his arms to wrap around Pinkie as well. “Group hugs are always a good idea!”

“Oh… My head… Hunh?” Twilight snapped out of her shocked trance, seeing that the Rune Slayer was gone. “Where did he go? I had more questions for him!!”

Duncan chuckled as he held the hug, “He went back to his dimension.” He answered easily, “Though I think the more important question is which tree I hung my jacket on…” the hybrid continued, a breeze against his back causing him to realize that he was pretty much half-naked.

“Or for that matter, how to wake up the Princesses.”

Back home…

By the time Nicko had returned to his world, it was already sometime past sundown. Where he arrived though was not what he expected though. He was in the Hall of Elements. All the way in Canterlot.

“A bit of a surprise, but at least I can talk to Celestia. Maybe Discord as well.” He thought to himself. As he walked through the hallway, the two individuals that he was just thinking about soon entered and were surprised to see him.

“Oh… Hello Nicko.”

“Hey. Sorry for dropping by unannounced, but something had been on my mind and I wanted to ask you about something.”

Both Draconequus and Alicorn looked at each other, confused. “Ask us what?”

“Well… It’s about Eris. She and I have been partners and friends for a while, but I really want to show her how much I care for her with Heart’s Warming coming up. So, I came to ask for something from the both of you.”

“Okay… What’s that?”

Nicko deeply breathed in before exhaling. Moments before he said the one thing that was on his mind. “Your blessing.”

Back in Ponyville…

Faith was enjoying her time with her father and Eris as she was relaxing by the firepit with them. Right now, she had her journal open. But to her, it wasn’t an ordinary journal. It was a token from Robin the Tactician. A book that allowed her to send messages to him to and fro. Right now, she was looking over his last two replies to her past entries. He had given her some great advice, but she then realized something. The Code Queen soon made a critical mistake in etiquette as she took up a pen and began to write.

Dear Robin,

Your advice has really been helping me out over the last few days and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your words of wisdom. I hope you can come over to my Equestria someday so you can teach me some of the things you know like how to handle difficult situations, but for now, I just wanted to make sure and say thanks.

Have a Happy Heart’s Warming,

Faith Nocte.

P.S. I still need to think of a good idea for a gift for my father and uncle that really shows how much they matter to me. Any good suggestions?

With that, the Code Nemesis closed the book and sighed. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day.

End Log 16

Author's Notes:

This chapter is a crossover with Storm Shine's story Son of A Kaiju! and is also partially inspired after seeing the Gamescon demo for the Xbox exclusive; Scalebound. I'm actually wanting to do a Displaced on that once I finished a few of my other stories. Oh and the title for the chapter is based on the song by The Prodigy with the same name. [Quick note, his universe is Anthro like Nicko's]

On another note, I will be taking a break with this story for a while so I can work on some other ones. But I plan for the next chapter to be focused solely on Faith. With Heart's Warming coming up and her still searching for a gift, there's one Displaced that might know how to help. Especially since he knows a thing or two about cheering up children.

Some big changes are coming to Nicko and the gang, so you might want to hold tight. Because after Heart's warming is when Sh*t hits the fan.
-Frost

Log 17- Shatter Me

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Of Magic and Machines- Shatter me

Castle of Friendship (A few days prior)

Watching the snow sprinkle out onto the ground outside, Faith was a little… distracted by the current circumstances. Her Father and Uncle had been gone for some time, and was also feeling quite nervous after her encounter with the Displaced Nightmare Moon some time before then. On a clean and empty sheet, she had written another diary entry into her journal. It was her second one, but she wrote anyways to express her concerns with her father’s and uncle’s absence.

It was only after she had written there that she noticed that a page in the book was glowing and it was the page next to the one where she had written her first entry.

“Is something wrong, Faith?” Sombra asked, noticing the look of surprise on her face.

“No… I’m just wondering why this page is glowing.” She replied as the Code Queen flipped through the pages again to the spot where she was referring to. Once Faith was there though, both her and Sombra were surprised to see ink bleed onto the page and form words. Even though Faith wasn’t writing at all.

I must say Faith, that is an interesting tale to be sure. Out of all the displaced I had met and heard about, not once have I heard of them returning to their homes. I would very much like for you to tell me the full story one day, if you have the time.

Now, from the way you wrote your entry, I'm assuming you didn't expect a response of some kind. Well, allow me to introduce myself then; My name is Robin, and I'm a tactician, Archmage, and swords-master. What you currently have before you is none other than my token. I use this to connect with the other displaced that wish to speak to me, such as yourself.

I find the situation you're in to be rather... interesting. I can still remember the first day I entered Equestria over 1500 years ago. Back then I had little control over my power, and it was only through intense studying and training did I manage to reach where I am today. I wish you the best of luck in finding a way home.

Sincerely,

Robin

“Wait… So this… is Robin’s Token?” Faith said to herself as she picked it up and held it at different angles. “I honestly did not expect a token to appear as a book.”

“Well, this Robin did call himself an Archmage. Archmages use tomes like this one to store spells and notes on their magic. I believe your Uncle carries one for his notes on his magic so he would refer to them when he needed to.” Sombra pointed out. As Faith looked through the pages though, the former king noticed that a lot of the pages were blank and looked like a journal rather than a tome. “My theory is that he sent out an empty tome so any Displaced that find it can write in it and communicate with him with only putting in enough magic so it could travel around to end up in the worlds of other Displaced.”

“Well, that does make sense. But how can this be helping me with my worries for Dad and Uncle Nicko?” She asked him. A very good question to pose to him at this time.

“Faith, it is almost midnight. Maybe you should get some sleep. I’m sure that a response will probably come in the morning.”

“...... Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Present Day

“And that’s how I found out about Robin.” The Code queen told her father, Anson Nocte. It was only a few moments before sunrise and today was a very special day. Heart Warmers eve. Known as Christmas eve back home, Faith and her uncle, Nicko Nocte, had originally planned to try and surprise her father and the rest of her family by finding their way home. But over time, she had been beginning to feel that this place is more like her home then back on earth. She had met a lot of people, had powers, and even felt like some of the Equestrians were beginning to feel like family to her. She had gotten to know Chaotic, Discord and Celestia’s Son, quite well in that timeframe and when he asked about the book, that’s when Faith told Anson and him about Robin.

Right now though, they were trying to make some final preparations for tonight’s festivities and the best way to start with that was by going into the Everfree and cutting down a Heart’s Warming Tree. Of course, this would’ve been a LOT easier if her father had not tried to decimate every tree in sight with one of his skills, but it at least got the job done. As they were starting to carry it back, it started to begin lightly snowing again.

“Alright, the sooner we get this tree back to town, the sooner we can prepare for the rest of the time. I honestly can’t actually believe that Amy agreed to distract Nicko while we take care of these things.” The Infinity Sword said as he carried the tree by the trunk while Faith carried it by the base with the help of Moby and Remy.

“Hey dad… Do you remember when you use to tell me stories?” Faith asked him.

“Yeah, what about them?” Anson asked.

“Remember when you were telling me about when the Infinity Sword met Jack Frost.”

“Ah yes. Jack. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him. He was a pretty cheerful fellow that was for sure.” Anson said, recalling the time where he met the Spirit of Frost in person. “In fact, I think you would like him if he met you.”

“So you’re saying that Jack is-.”

“-A Displaced, yes. But the same things I said in the story apply to him. You need to believe in him in order for you to be able to see him.” Anson retold his daughter, as they made their way back to town, dropping off the tree. “Still though, I wonder how he has been doing recently…”

The Void (Black Frost PoV)

“That was far too close!” I thought to myself as I barely escaped from Blood Cleaver. I knew she would soon be on my tail once again, so my best shot was to get as far away from this universe as possible. The problem was, that currently distance, direction and time was beyond my control in The Void. Making any attempts besides obvious traps to create an advantage useless.

If I was to stand up against Cleaver, I would have to refill my magic reserves, I was still far from empty, but I was getting closer than I could have ever imagined I’d ever have to be. The stunt I pulled in Robin’s universe having taken a lot more out of me than I thought.

Quickly I swept my gaze and took in all surrounding universes. A few of them had powerful Displaced I could most likely drain of magic, but there was one that somehow felt familiar… and it was filled with multiple Displaced. I would normally had avoided entering a universe with multiple Displaced, but these were weaker than Blood Cleaver, and I could probably pick them off one by one anyway. There was also the point of this universe having an already set invitation, after all, I could feel one of my tokens already in there.

I smiled to myself. This would be perfect for me to take care of Blood Cleaver, the time dilation would allow me to spend enough time in there to recover fully before Cleaver caught up to me, and with her still exhausted after having chased me, I would be the-

Any further thoughts of mine were shattered as I was thrown against edge of the universe I intended to invade. A quick look back confirmed my fears, Blood Cleaver had already caught up to me and had landed the first hit, and she looked absolutely furious.

“Welp, might at least not waste the opportunity to regain some energy.” I thought to myself as I activate a passage, connecting it to my token.

Unfortunately Blood Cleaver seemed to have understood my plan as she screamed, “As if I’d let you!” as she grabbed onto me.

I was already in a relatively bad situation, but it only got worse from there. Because of the sudden addition in weight, the passage shifted and our point of entry changed. Further decreasing my chances of draining another Displaced of their magic.

As Blood Cleaver and I fell through, my only thoughts were on how much I would enjoy getting back at Blood Cleaver after this was all done and over with.

Ponyville

“Okay, that should do it.” Anson sighed a little, shaking out any loose pine needles around the back end of Twilight’s castle while Faith used the Nasod blades to cut loose any branches that were sticking out. Pinkie and Discord were with them adding decorative trinkets to the outside of the tree, but at one moment, the earth pony’s whole body shook rapidly as if she was freezing from the cold before settling down a few minutes later.

“Oh my… That was quite a doozy.”

What she said had caused Faith to chuckle a little to herself, but when Anson and Discord looked at one another, they knew that a doozy was no laughing matter. It meant that the unpredictable was going to happen. And they will possibly get blindsided by it.

This was abruptly followed up by hearing a loud BOOM!! in a field outside of town. At first, it sounded like a tree falling down, but Anson thought otherwise. “Pinkie, get inside. Faith, stay with me.”

“Okie dokie, Sonny!!” The Pink Earth Pony replied, racing back into Sugarcube Corner. That’s when Anson looked at his Draconequus friend and posed a question to him. “Hey Discord… Is it just me or does the magic in the air feel… familiar?”

The Draconequus soon raised one of his eyebrows and sniffed the air a little before looking back at Anson. “Yeah, almost like the time we met…… Jack.” He sniffed the air again and then his face cringed, like he had smelled a bad odor. “Something’s not right about the other being that came with him I think.”

“Wait… other being?”

“Yeah, it smells like blood. Can’t make out if it’s a he or she.”

A second BOOM!! was heard and seemed to have been closer than the previous one, this one accompanied by a light blue light shining through the snowfall, showing them what direction to go if they wanted to investigate.

As they followed the light and sound they began to make out more sounds and lights making it through the snowfall until the came out into a part where the snow seemed to simply stop falling.

In the middle of the ‘clearing’ were two figures fighting. One by shooting icicles, and freezing the terrain by creating giant spikes of ice. The other was moving at incredible speed and was shooting beams of light blue light that seemed to melt anything they touched and explode on impact. Both of them seemed to be shouting at each other over the howling of the ever present wind.

“What the heck-?” Anson said to himself. “Discord, something is wrong here. I can’t make it out, but I believe Jack is fighting somepony.”

“What was your first clue?”

“One of the fighters is throwing Ice Spikes all over the place like spears. I can’t make anything out, so can you get closer and try to see what is happening?”

“I can try. I have a hunch that one of them might sense me though if I get too close.” The spirit warned before diving into the ground like it was a pool of water, swimming like an eel.

As soon as he did, the figure fighting Jack jumped high into the air, seemingly exposing itself to any and all attacks. That is until it moved sideways in mid air to avoid Jack’s attacks. Pursuing his opponent Jack too followed up by flying into the air. Their fight continuing in a similar fashion to as how it had been progressing earlier, only now in a three dimensional space and no objects to hide behind.

At first Anson didn’t notice it being much of change for how easy it was to observe the two while waiting for Discord, that is until one of the icicles that had missed its intended target landed no closer than 3 feet away from him. Almost striking his daughter.

“That… was too close.” He noticed the figures that were in the air and snarled a little. “Faith, can your drones zoom in to see those two up there?”

“I can try.” Faith coughed a little, shaken a bit, but not hurt. A small screen pulled up as she tried to close in on the two of them. “All I can make out is that one of them is a man and another one is a woman in dark clothing. The man is casting the Ice Spells and the Woman is doing that… Laser beam thingy.”

“Plasma to be specific.” The Spirit of Chaos that had left only a few moments ago said upon returning. “Head’s up though, They’re heading back this way.”

“Wait, Wha-!?”

BOOM!!!

Accompanying the sudden explosion was a rain of ice chunks from the blown up mountain of ice that had been flying their way. As the assault of ice began to descend however the woman suddenly appeared before them with her back turned towards them and began blasting any of the ice chunks that came to close. As soon as the threat was over she once again seemed to disappear, only to re-appear high up in the air to once again fight against Jack.

This time, the fighting duo were close enough to be heard over the sound of the wind.

“Multi-form!” The woman shouted with a familiar voice as she seemed to split into two. One of the two began to slowly descend towards Anson, Discord and Faith.

As she landed she looked upon them.

“You guys alright?” She asked as the sounds of fighting resumed above them, a few more chunks of ice falling around them.

“Y-yeah-.”

“Yeah, just who the hell are you?” Anson demanded, interrupting what Faith was going to say. He was a little on edge after he almost saw Faith got injured a few moments earlier.

The woman in front of him bowed a little. “My name is Blood Cleaver, and that,” she pointed towards the fight. “is me battling against Jack Frost, or as he’s currently calling himself, Black Frost.” Cleaver introduced herself and Frost.

“Whoa, Lady. Black Frost? What’s up with the change? That’s different from the last time I saw him.” Anson replied. Faith herself was back on her feet as she looked and observed the two fighters battling it out against one another.

“Well, from what the Cutie Mark Crusaders told me, he was discorded.”

Both Anson and Faith looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what Blood Cleaver was talking about. That was when their Discord came out of Anson and decided to step up to the plate in regards to explaining. “It’s an ability where a Darconequus steals somepony’s harmony and has them act the opposite of what they normally would be. Something tells me Jack’s Discord did this to him.”

“That would be correct. Heh, I wasn’t there when it happened, but apparently Discord back in Jack’s Equestria already learnt his lesson. Because after Jack returned as Black, Discord wasn’t seen leaving the site. Although I doubt he’s dead. It ain’t easy getting rid of you lot.” Blood Cleaver said as she chuckled a little, pointing at Discord.

“Actually, I know I’m in no position to ask this of you, but could I ask for your assistance? I might not look like it, but I’m currently not capable of containing Black. Would you mind helping a lady out?” She asked.

“Anything to get my friend back,” Anson retorted. “Just leave my daughter out of this-.”

“No dad.” Faith interjected. “I’m fighting with you. If Blood Cleaver needs help, then that means trying to fight him alone will end up getting yourself hurt or worse,” Around that moment, all six of the Code Nemesis’ blades began to materialize. “Now, how do we do this?”

“Ah, that. Well, for a start, we have to avoid all the Ki blasts, icicles and anything else flying from those two.” Blood Cleaver said as she gestured behind herself where the fight had once again distanced itself away from them.

“Otherwise, it’s mostly the containing part I need help with. Word of advice though, if you have to hit him, hit hard. He takes close to no damage from punches that break rocks. And sharp weapons don’t cut him, so don’t fight him head on if he tries to attack you. And watch out for his magic, I believe he is low on reserves, but he could still freeze you solid I believe. He did it to another Equestria’s SUN with no visible effort before and didn’t even use half of his reserves.” Blood Cleaver warned them.

“Not a problem. Just need to change my code real quick.” Faith responded as she had another screen appear and typed a few keys.

“Huh, you’re some kind of class changing Displaced?” Blood Cleaver asked, curious about Faiths transformation.

“You could say that,” Faith told her as she changed her form. Her appearance, along with the appearance of Moby and Remy changed along with it, surprising her father.

“Neat. However, While you help… well, me. I’ll be staying here. The Multi-Form technique let’s me split my power and body into multiple selves, but I only have about a millionth share of my total power, if I go out there I’ll be minced meat. But I’ll signal myself that you’re going to help me.” Blood Cleaver explained.

“Got it,” Faith replied, seeing her father draw his swords. “You sure you’re gonna handle this, dad? Blood Cleaver said-.”

“I know what she said about weapons not cutting him, but he doesn’t know that my weapons aren’t ordinary,” Anson smirked. “You know, when I said I wanted the chance to have some Father-Daughter time to ourselves, this was not what I had in mind.”

“Hah! Good Luck! Make sure not to get in the way of myself. I’d hate to disintegrate you with plasma.” Blood Cleaver said before flying upwards and shooting a small orb into the air, the orb exploding with a loud Clap working as a signal. The other Cleaver quickly allowed herself a moment to do the same to let them know she heard the signal.

Nodding to herself Cleaver landed once again and smiled. “She’s ready now, now go out there and show him how you catch a spirit!”

Both Nocte’s nodded, charging into the fray. Anson went head on into the fight, while Faith stayed behind. The Battle’s Seraph’s specialty involved attacking her opponents from afar with Electron Beams. Not only that, but she could modify her drones so the beams would come out in different ways. The same worked for when she was using one of her new primary skills, Particle Ray.

This skill was paired up by another one Faith had acquired called El Crystal Spectrum. A passive skill that allows her to change to a different type of Force Field that’s around her, and in turn, affect the size and damage of the beams she would fire. This was paired up with two other passive skills to allow for her to have three modes to choose from along with a fourth one when you combined all three.

Amplify, Spectrum and Reactive and Fusion.

Right now, Faith was using her Spectrum force field. Because of this, The single beam that she fired split apart into three once they went through the field and towards Black Frost. She was aiming for the lower half of the body, since their focus was to contain him and prevent him from running away.

The sudden assault surprised Black, but he quickly recovered and gritted his teeth in frustration over now having to face an additional opponent. Trying to gain an advantage he quickly shot forward towards Faith and tried to blast her with ice magic from a close range, at the same time moving in a way so that Blood Cleaver could potentially hit Faith if she tried to shoot him.

In response to this Blood Cleaver decided to give herself and her allies another advantage and began casting a barrage of Ki blasts over the sky, creating a wall of them that was pressing down from above, forcing all of them down to the ground before they stopped in mid-air a few meters over the ground.

Faith meanwhile, had slid out of the way and thought of something. She remembered that, after spending time overlooking her new skill tree, that she had a new skill that might work for the current situation. But right now, she waited to see what was the outcome of Ms. Cleaver’s attack.

Having forced Black down to the ground, allowing Anson to help out as well. Blood Cleaver began using more precise attacks as to not hit either Anson or Faith by mistake. Her current beams had now taken on a green tint and the small Ki blasts had become white instead of blue.

Black himself was about to retaliate against Blood Cleaver, but soon found himself being attacked from behind as he narrowly dodged the first of Anson’s two swords. The second one the Infinity Sword held in reverse and caught him off guard by using Harsh Chaser to try and pull him down to the ground and restrain him. It worked, but what took Black by surprise was who was attacking him. For he had seen him before.

“Anson?” Black asked in surprise before gathering his wits and created a wall of ice between them to give himself an opening. Using that opening to his fullest he created a lot of big ice spikes all over the clearing to use as cover and began weaving between them to lose his opponents and strike them from behind.

However, this was the moment that Faith used Kugel Blitz. A slow moving Electron Ball that dealt a lot of damage, but also pulled their opponents towards her. The skill was based off a specific type of black hole created by energy. In this case, Faith’s energy was being used not just to hurt Black, but pull him towards the group as he fell forward onto the ground with a THUD!

Quickly getting up and narrowly avoiding a beam that would have hit him in the head, Black shouted a few curse words and released all the wind surrounding them from his control, allowing the falling snow to enter the clearing and further obstructing everyone's vision.

Everyone except Faith. While she couldn’t see a thing, Moby and Remy could. They were her helpers, weapons and in this case, sight. She could see what they saw. And right now, she was seeing Black head towards her father. “LEAVE MY DAD ALONE!!” With this, she conjured and released another Particle Ray, this time with the Amplify forcefield as she tried to hit Black in the upper chest area where his arm was stretching out towards Anson.

Not having enough time to dodge, Black instead conjured up small blocks of ice to take the hit for him. But before he could retreat he found his lover jaw getting hit by a powerful kick delivered by Blood Cleaver. While Blood Cleaver couldn’t see much herself, she had a pretty good idea where everyone were because of her ability to sense their power levels.

The kick sent Black through the air. The strike was both surprising and quite painful, making Black accidentally let go of his staff. As Blood Cleaver felt the opening in Black’s defences she quickly took advantage of it by showering him in a barrage of kicks and punches, keeping him pinned against one of the ice spikes he previously created. Large cracks began to spread through it as she applied more force to her punches.

Faith herself checked on her father before looking back at Blood Cleaver. She was surprised that she could move so fast, but had a feeling that something was wrong. Very wrong. Like she had been set up.

Before Faith could voice her suspicion, Blood Cleaver winced in pain and quickly distanced herself from Black, holding her left arm. The whole arm had been frostbitten and had turned black, just like dead meat. “Dammit, forgot about that.” Blood Cleaver swore as she quickly fished out a knife from somewhere and cut her left arm clean off, splattering a surprisingly small amount of blood into the snow.

“Well, seems I finally got you. You sure you’d not rather leave and stay out of this?” Black asked with a confident smirk. Blood Cleaver however didn’t falter.

“As if, what you’re doing is wrong, and I was told to help you return to normal, so that’s what I’m going to do. Now, let’s see about that trapping. NOW!” Blood Cleaver shouted. To the Frost mage’s surprise, he was soon attacked by a series of rapid slashes from Anson’s Maelstrom Rage skill and then was soon thrown against the same wall by the Infinity Sword. Conjuring four small blades, he used two of them to pin down the sleeves of Jack’s clothes and the other two to pin down the pant legs. “That… was for almost hurting my daughter.”

As soon as Anson was done, Blood Cleaver appeared before Black and gripped his throat with her now only hand and held him up before bashing heads with him. The unpleasant sound of two craniums bashing together sounded loud enough to wake an Ursa Minor, peacefully sleeping in the middle of the Everfree forest. And Black visibly winced at the contact. Blood Cleaver however seemed completely unphased by it.

Black was about to once again try and freeze Blood Cleaver after she had so foolishly gotten close to him a second time, but found that he couldn’t, or rather that he no longer wanted to. Memories began spilling into his head in quick succession, filling his mind with different parts of his life the last ten thousands years and memories of who he was.

As tears began to form in the corners of his eyes, his irises turned back into his regular light blue. His hair once again went back to its snow white color and his clothes and skin recovered their regular colors as well.

“I-I-” Jack began as he realized what had happened, but before he could say anything else Blood Cleaver leaned backwards for a moment and once again bashed heads with him, this time knocking him out and severely bruising her own forehead.

“Was that last hit on the head necessary?” Faith asked, crossing her arms while looking at Blood Cleaver and her father, who seemed okay based on appearance.

“Yes, he was about to panic, he wasn’t himself when he did what he did, and he did some stuff he’s really going to regret. It’s best for him to rest now and to wake up later in a safe environment where I can properly help him. It’s too cold for that outhere.” Blood Cleaver explained as she shuddered from the cold and picked up her cut off arm. “Think we can go someplace a bit warmer? I’d love some Hot Cocoa right about now.”

“Well, there’s Twilight’s castle. That seems the best because I don’t think Pinkie could help us back at Sugarcube Corner.”

“Yeah, that would probably be for the best. I don’t know when we are in time right now, but I don’t think Pinkie would take well to seeing me walking in like this,” Blood Cleaver gestured to her cut off arm. “And snowflake over there would most likely appreciate a quiet environment for his rest.”

“Well, it’s seven years after Tirek fought Twilight and when Nicko and I fought that Diabolic Esper named Eric. Any other questions?” Anson asked her as they started to walk over to the castle.

“No, I think I’m cool.” Blood Cleaver said as she picked up the unconscious spirit and followed after the pair.

“Alright. I just hope the fight didn’t attract Celestia or Artemis’ attention.” He told her, “Mostly, a friend of ours named Amy is known for causing more chaos than what just happened.”

“Ah, well, I do hope they don’t nag about it too much. I’m not on best terms with Celestia or Luna where I’m from… Also, who’s Artemis?”

“Celestia’s brother.”

“Huh, I’ll have to cross that one off the list then. And with tha-” Blood Cleaver said before stopping in her tracks and facepalming. “I forgot to signal my other self… wait here for a moment.” Blood Cleaver said before dumping Jack onto the ground and quickly ran off back where they had come from. It didn’t take her long to return with her other self.

“There, now we’re good to go.”

“Alright, Right this way.” Anson told her as he opened a backdoor into the castle and guided her into the room that he would normally stay in. “Alright, You can set Jack on the sofa and I can get the first aid kit for your arm. Also, please don’t knock over the boxes by the shelf. They’re heart's warming gifts for my friends and family.”

Both Blood Cleavers nodded. “Sure, but the first aid kit won’t be needed, I just need something warm to warm myself with and I’ll be fine in no time.” Said the one armed Blood Cleaver.

“Alright. I think I noticed Spike in the kitchen preparing some warm drinks. I’ll go check with him. You said you wanted Hot Cocoa right?”

Both, Cleavers nodded in response while the one who was still intact removed Jack from the injured ones shoulder.

“Alright. I’ll be back in a minute.” Anson replied and took a moment to leave the room, hanging his swords up on the coat rack by the door. Soon, he came back with the Hot Cocoas she asked for and one for Faith. He himself just got himself a cup of coffee that he set down on the table in the center of the room. Discord himself appeared from Anson’s body, having a small cup of tea as he looked at Blood Cleaver. “So Cleaver... Would you happen to be a Displaced?”

Blood Cleaver took as sip from her cup and then looked back at Discord. “What gave it away, the crazy powers? The fighting another Displaced? or was it the not flinching at losing an arm part?”

“No, it’s something different. Looking at you, you strangely remind me of Pinkie Pie for some reason.”

Blood Cleaver smiled a big smile. “You don’t say… Well, I can explain it simply. I’m Pinkie’s sister in my version of Equestria.” Blood Cleaver explained.

Anson almost choked on his drink when he heard that. “H-her sister? Well… That’s surprising.” He kind of looked embarrassed, Blood noticing a blush appearing on his face. “Oh, sorry for interrupting. Go ahead and continue.”

“Well, there’s not much else to explain. My name is Blood Cleaver, Pinkie Pie is my sister, my special talent is blood magic and I’m a Displaced with the powers of a Saiyan.”

“Saiyan? Like Ki blasts and such? Interesting.” Anson replied. “I got Displaced here many years ago as an Infinity Sword, my daughter Faith is here as a Code: Nemesis,” During that moment, Faith remembered for her to turn back into her normal outfit by changing her source code again. “And my brother was Displaced here as a Rune Slayer. Though, he has been through a lot. He even jumped in front of me to protect me from a blast that could’ve turned me to stone if it weren’t for him.”

“So he got stoned? It’s not uncommon for the common Displaced to get stoned actually, you’d be surprised how many have had to live through that. And most of them have to live with it for over a thousand years, even though the elements can reverse the effect if it was an accident. Most just don’t know how to use them correctly.” Blood Cleaver stated.

“Umm…” Faith said, interjecting after Blood Cleaver finished. “My uncle is a different case. When my dad and him tried to fight against a Diabolic Esper that was rampaging through Ponyville, he redirected a blast from the Elements of Harmony towards my father and he took the blow instead. But it wasn’t just him getting stuck in stone. Discord’s daughter, Eris was also sealed since she was in my Uncle’s body. When Chaotic, Discord’s son, and I found their statue, the two of us freed them. However, the seven years he was here were… how many back on earth, Dad?”

“Twenty-one.”

“Yeah. So he was surprised to wake up and find out that he was my uncle.” Faith giggled. “Wait til you meet him. He’s a bit… well… clumsy at times, but know’s what’s important.”

“I can imagine his surprise. I mean, Pinkie was quite surprised when she found out about me. I had of course known about her all the time, but she hadn’t.” Blood Cleaver sighed. But soon cheered up again. “So how are things here in Equestria otherwise, how much progress has Twilight done on her research regarding the elements and their rainbow powers?”

“Well, there’s been a LOT of different things going on. Mostly because of the amount of trouble our friend Amy gets in. Her ENTIRE family is living here. But she has still been able to complete some tasks and balance research with her responsibilities.”

“So… She hasn’t gotten much done? Well, I guess. In my Equestria the first Displaced was my teacher Pan. She mostly kept to herself and only helped out Equestria when it really was in trouble, so Twilight wasn’t disturbed much and got a lot of her research done. We even found out how to use our rainbow powers perfectly. But before we go any further, I’m going to reattach this.” Blood Cleaver said as she held up her blackened limb. Unaware of the maid who just opened the door.

“........Dear lord please tell me she’s not like Amy?”

That’s when Anson turned towards the door and saw who spoke. “Oh, hi Yuri.”

“Hi Anson, who’s your friend?” Yuri asked, trying her best to hold it together.

“Well, the one re-attaching her arm is Blood Cleaver,” Anson said, just as she finally fixed her arm problem. If by fixing, you mean disintegrating it and remaking her arm from the same matter. “And the one on the couch is Jack Frost. Blood, this is one of our friends named Yuri. She basically tries her best to make sure Amy doesn’t cause mayhem every five seconds.”

“Which isn’t going so well seeing how Amy keeps pissing Celestia off…… a lot.”

Just as the Sakra Devanam said that, the front door of the castle went off with a large slam that almost shook the building as they heard a new voice. “I’M BACK B*TCHES!!!”

“Speak of the devil here she is, the bane of Celestia’s headaches.”

“Nice to see you too Yuri…..who the hell are these people?”

Anson soon got up, putting himself next to Blood Cleaver and Amy. “Amy, meet Blood Cleaver. Blood Cleaver, meet Amy. The self proclaimed Crimson Avenger who also uses blood magic. As for the other one, that’s Jack. He’s… A friend of mine.”

“Which is kind sick if you ask me.” Said Yuri.

“Nice to meet you.” Both Blood Cleavers said in unison before looking at each other. “Oh, right. Wait a sec.” The spoke before slowly gliding together into one again.

“Wait so you can pull you head off without dying and stuff?” Amy asked as she tried to pull her own head off.

“Eh… no. I’m still very much mortal. I’m just really hard to kill since my magic allows me to function as long as my vitals are alright and functioning… The heart doesn't count as a vital organ for me though. But cut my head off in my sleep and I’m as good as dead…” Blood Cleaver explained.

“Well that sucks.” Amy said as she put her head back on. “You’re like me but without the whole immortal thing going for yeah.”

Blood Cleaver shrugged. “Probably, but blood magic differs greatly from world to world, mine is based on a runic language I made by imitating the old language spirit class use for their spells. Many don’t think that solid class like me are able to perform magic.”

“Umm… Sorry for interjecting Amy,” Anson spoke. “But where’s Nicko? I still need to get the last of the gifts hidden and prepared for the Heart’s warmers eve party tonight.”

“Oh…...crap I forgot about the little guy. Guess I must have lost him while coming here.”

Amy though, should’ve been a little bit more careful with the words she decided to use. Because moments later, both doors were thrown wide open and outside stood the Rune Slayer that she was talking about. “I… HEARD THA-! ... Oh god, did you find a way to clone yourself?” He asked, looking at Blood Cleaver. The lighting making the two of them look almost identical.

“I already figured out how to do that smartass, and the only I do is when I’m alone with Rainbow Dash.”

“Right… I’ll be right back. I need to pick something up in town.” Nicko said, before turning around. He didn't leave yet though. “Oh and please don’t tell Eris that I’m in town. I don’t want her to follow me because it’ll spoil the heart’s warming surprise I have for her.” As he ran outside though, he almost tripped over a snowmare body that Scootaloo and her friends were trying to make.

“AW! COME ON!” Yelled Sweetie Belle. “It took us five hours to make that snowmare of Amy, and now it’s ruined!”

“Nice going dumbass.” Said Scootaloo looking at Nicko with an annoyed expression on her face.

“Hey, I’m in a hurry! I got to get to the Jewelcrafter before the sun sets!!” Nicko apologized to the girls as he ran. Only now though did Anson realize what his brother said.

“Wait a second, did he say Jewelcrafter?” He said. “Why would he be there?”

“Simple, he doesn't want to be left behind by his brother.” Blood Cleaver said cryptically. Anson just rolled his eyes, thinking that Blood Cleaver was trying to mess with his head.

Later that evening…

Jack stirred from his dreamless sleep as he had a headache. Opening his eyes, he noticed that he was inside some for of building that he didn’t recognize. Still a bit groggy from his first sleep in one thousand seven hundred years he didn’t immediately recall the events that had led to him being knocked out in the first place.

The main reason Jack avoided sleeping was because he didn’t actually require any sleep, it was something left over from his time as a human, the other was that once he did wake up, it took him a fair amount of time to gather himself, mainly due to the wast collection of experiences cluttering his mind from the past ten thousand years of his life.

The only one that noticed him while he was in this state was a young girl with white hair draping down the back of her head. She had what looked like two floating metal heads by her side and seemed to be the only one who noticed Jack’s brief movements. “H-hey, take it easy.” She insisted, placing a hand on his shoulder and assuring to him that he was safe.

“W-Where am I? And I’m sorry, but who are you?” Jack asked cautiously as his mind was still rebooting and there was a slight chance that he already knew her.

“You’re in our world. And my name is Faith,” She answered, trying her best to ease any confusion. “Faith Nocte.”

Jack nodded as he began looking around. “I’m Jack, Jack Frost, in case you didn’t know that already. But considering the fact that you can actually see me I’m guessing you already knew that. I’m sorry if I’m supposed to remember you or something, but my mind get’s real fuzzy after just waking up. It should be over in ten to fifteen minutes.” Jack apologized.

“Actually, this is the first time we met.” She pointed out. “I only know about you and believe in you because my father told me about you many times when I was younger.”

“I see. I’m sorry. Right now I’m still going through the memories of before Equestria was founded. You know, it’s very weird, right now I know of Equestria and it being my current land of residence, but I have no idea how it’s like. Memories get confusing like that sometimes.” Jack told the girl while chuckling.

“I see what you mean. I have a hard time of trying to remember someone’s name.” Faith replied back. “But I still remember a few. Like Uncle Nicko, Grandpa Luke, My dad Anson-.”

“Wait, Anson? The name is ringing a bell…” Jack said as he sighed. “Guess I’ll have to wait a little while longer… Who is that then?” Jack asked pointing towards the sleeping form of Blood Cleaver.

“Oh that’s Ms. Blood Cleaver. Don’t worry, it just one of her forms and she’s asleep right now. The real one is with my dad and uncle.”

“This is quite surreal. I have no memories of other Humans yet, but I do remember names. Although Blood Cleaver’s seems to be a recent addition.”

Faith sighed a little. After what had happened, she rather go into specific details on how Jack knew her. “Hmm… It’ll probably come to you in time. I just hope that everything goes well tonight for heart warmer’s eve.”

“Ah, yes. I just remembered a few seconds ago. It’s quite the holiday.” Jack commented with a smile on his face. “I take it you’re looking forward to it?”

She nodded her head, smiling. “Yes I am. For the past couple of days, I’ve been working on a surprise gift with my father. It’s going to be a MAJOR surprise for Uncle Nicko because of all the hard work we put into it.”

“That sounds like a great idea, it’s good to see youngsters these days tha-” Jack trailed off as he suddenly began to frown. But quickly returned to his cheery self. “Sorry, I just had a bunch of bad memories of the crystal empire, Discord’s era and Nightmare Moon come in all at once. As glad as I am to regain my memories, those aren’t good ones. And, I think I’m about to regain the last ones right about-” Jack once again trailed of and suddenly went stiff. He slowly turned his head and looked towards Blood Cleaver, then looked down to his hands before placing them on his own face. And then continuing to sit still in such a position.

“Jack?” Faith said, worried a little. She reached out to tap him on the shoulder. As the code queen touched his shoulder, she felt as if she had put her hand on top of a frost bitten piece of cloth, even though they were inside and protected from the cold weather, it felt as if Frost was still out there. Jack himself shuddered at her touch.

“I-I…” Jack whispered before removing his hands, tears beginning to run down his face as he had a faraway look in his eyes.

Faith did the only thing that came naturally to her. Back home, her father comforted her when her mom passed away by hugging her. Now, she was doing the same to Jack. Wrapping her arms around her and trying to hold him close, speaking the words that he had said back then. “It’s okay… Everything is going to be okay…”

“I-It’s not… Faith… I killed someone. I killed someone before I came here, before Blood Cleaver could stop me.” Jack said looking at Faith with sorrow filling his entire soul.

“You didn’t kill them. You weren’t yourself,” She told them. “You were the opposite of the person that I’m seeing right now in front of me.”

“B-but, I still should’ve been stronger. I’m over ten thousand years old, I should have been strong enough to resist it, but instead, I didn’t even notice or realize what had happened. All I knew was that Discord had changed my way of thinking a little bit, not that I wasn’t myself… I’m afraid, because it wasn’t just something made by Discord that was acting, but me. All of the ideas, they came from me. Parts of me that I have locked away and ignored, trying to shape myself into the one I define myself as. The parts you saw, they’re just as much me as the ones you see now. And it scares me.” Jack explained his fear as he pulled in his legs close to himself and began hugging them.

“I haven’t been through anything like that, but you just need to stay brave in times that seemed impossible. I was afraid of myself for many reasons when I was younger. But my dad taught me how to have courage and to overcome your fears no matter how scary they might be. But the most important thing I learned is that to overcome something, you need support. And for that, I’m here to help you.” Faith placed her hands on Jack's, ignoring the chill going through her hands. Soon though, the door slightly opened a little as a familiar face opened it.

“Faith, it’s time for-. Oh…” It was Anson. Jack’s first friend. “Jack?”

Jack looked up and saw Anson, “Anson?” he asked in disbelief at how much the young boy he had known had changed, suddenly it also clicked in his head that Faith had said her father knew him and that her full name was Faith Nocte, the same as Anson Nocte.

Jack looked away from Anson, not willing to meet his gaze for what he had almost done to his daughter.

“Hey buddy? What’s wrong?” He asked. “It seems like you and Faith were getting along just fine now.”

Jack shook his head. “I tried to hurt you… I tried to KILL you! How can I ever forgive myself for something like that?” Jack asked Anson.

“Because I forgive you.” He said, taking out something Jack would recognize. The Snowflake that was his token. “You were the first Displaced I met and you’re my friend, I care for. I know that it wasn’t you who did this, but still have the memories. But I forgive you either way.”

“I-I don’t know. Anson, you weren’t the first. Before I came here I actually managed to kill another Displaced, before Blood Cleaver chased me off. Even if you do forgive me, I can’t forgive myself. I went against my calling, my very nature. I’m supposed to care for and protect everyone, and yet…” Jack said, still not looking at Anson.

Anson sighed. “Jack, look at me. Do I look upset? No. I’m not upset or mad at you. I’m relieved that you are okay. Some things you can address later, but for tonight, it’s suppose to be a night of joy. Forget about the things that Black did. Just focus on being you, Jack. The cheerful happy self that you are.” With the last sentence, Anson patted him on the shoulder and Faith decided to surprise Jack by hugging him from behind.

Jack allowed the hug while he thought about what Anson had said. Finally he stopped hugging his legs and released himself from Faith’s hug. Standing up he faced Anson. “I guess I could do that, for a little while at least.” Jack said before smiling a sad smile.

The Infinity Sword smiled, looking at his friend. “Now that’s the Jack I know. Come on, I think a light snowfall in Twilight’s castle is what she needs for this time of year.” He soon opened the door for them to step out into the hallway as Faith exited first. Anson still held the door open for Jack as they walked into the crystalline hallway of Twilight’s castle.

Jack followed them, but looked back towards where Blood Cleaver had been to wake her before they left. However found her missing. Furrowing his brow he turned back to follow the Nocte family again.

Soon though, Nicko noticed his brother and walked up to Anson, greeting him. “Hey there, man. How’s it going?” He turned to look at the position where Jack was before looking back at Anson. “I’m guessing you brought a guest to the party?”

“Hi, My name is Jack Frost. And you would be Nicko Nocte, correct?” Jack asked, basing his guess on Nicko’s appearance of how similarly he looked to how Jack remembered his brother and held out his arm for a handshake.

“Why yes it is,” Nicko greeted him, shaking his outstretched hand. “Anson told me about you some time ago and I got to say, I’m glad to meet you in person.”

Jack rubbed the back of his head. “I’m glad to meet the brother of a friend of mine as well. Now, what do you say we get a move on? As much as it’s somewhat recognized to be fashionably late, I don’t think Twilight would appreciate it.” Jack said with a smile.

“You do bring up a good point. Because from what I know, It’ll be more than just the Royal Siblings that’ll be dining with us.” Anson replied. “There’s Amy’s family, Cadence, Gleaming Shield, Blueblood… I really hate that guy, and a few special guests coming in later.”

“Special guests?” Nicko asked.

“Dad, that’s a secret.”

“Oh right… Whoops.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting, would we?” Jack asked. Anson smiled a little as they entered the dining hall. As time ticked on, everyone was able to conversate amongst each other and enjoy the food that was being served. Even though Amy personally tried to raid the kitchen to see if she could find any meat. Which, to Nicko and Anson’s understanding; wasn’t the first time she tried something like that. Nor would it be the last.

The most surprising part came when they were handing out gifts later in the afternoon and it was Anson’s turn to give something to his brother. Before he could speak though, the door to the castle was kicked in and barely missed Blood Cleaver’s face. Turning back around, two individuals stood at the entryways as they walked on in.

“Sorry about the door, but that’s my way of saying Happy Holidays.” Jack himself was confused by who they were. But he soon got his answer when Faith responded to them.

“Grandma!! Grandpa!!”

“Holy Sh-!” Was Nicko’s only response to what was happening.

“Well, that certainly is a way to introduce a surprise, wouldn’t you say Jack?” Blood Cleaver asked with a small smile.

“I-I guess?” Jack responded while looking at what was left of the door.

The Duo that were known as Luke and Ciela walked in, but the emotional waterworks began to overflow once the two of them saw Nicko. They had not seen their son in over twenty years and he looked like he had not aged at all. “My god, it’s great to finally see you again,” Luke replied. “Not that we’re going anywhere anytime soon.”

Now that confused Nicko for a minute. “Wait, what?”

“Yeah…” Anson sighed, embarrassed a little. “I might have went behind your back on this one brother, but I asked Twilight to help with something that blows your original request out of the water.” He then turned to Faith, and had her stand by her side. “I asked Twilight if there was a way to bring everyone in our family here because I’ve been seeing a lot of things that I normally wouldn’t see from either you or Faith. A lot of personal change and I believe that it’s for the best. Hell, the reason why Amy was distracting you all day was so that we could move everyone in and finish building the house we were working on.”

“Wait… let me get this straight…” Nicko replied, “Equestria… is now our home?” Anson’s only reply was a nod and a smile as he hugged his brother.

“This… was the best insane surprise plan that you ever came up with.”

“You should’ve seen what happened when I was in Jack’s world. If he didn’t conjure a slide for me to land on, I would’ve plummeted to the ground.”

“Well, I couldn’t just let you fall and hurt yourself like that, now could I?” Jack asked.

“Nope, not at all.” A familiar voice interjected, appearing next to Anson. Discord then sighed. “If it weren’t for my assistance and also having to distract your friend with the mechanical arm, then we wouldn’t have had enough time to pull this off.”

“Wait, Leo is here too?” Nicko reacted, surprised.

“Yeah, but he’s right now taking the night off.” The Spirit of Chaos replied. “Caliburn is making sure he doesn’t have too many drinks at the tavern.”

“Pfft. Good luck with that.” Ciela snickered. “He beat my husband in a drinking contest during our anniversary one time.”

“...... Moving on,” Anson said as he looked back at Nicko. “Brother, do you happen to have any gifts for anypony this evening?”

“Actually…” He replied as Jack now noticed a small box in his hands. “I do. Where’s Eris?”

“Right here.” Eris chuckled a little as she slid out from behind where Jack was and playfully booped him on the nose before going over to Nicko. The Rune Slayer then turned to Jack.

“You alright there? I know Eris is playful at times, but I honestly did not expect that.”

“Well, neither did I.” Jack responded, not really phased by it. Only a bit surprised about meeting a female Draconequus.

Nicko was hesitant at first, but then, he calmly began to speak to Eris. “Eris, you and I make a great team… and I just… well, I don’t think I can put it in the right context. But I wanted to get something for you that really expressed how I felt.” He then showed the box that he had for her and opened it, revealing a beautiful sapphire diamond ring. The Draconequus herself was beyond shocked. Words could not even comprehend what she was thinking.

“Eris? Will you-?”

“Yes.” The Draconequus replied, hugging him and tackling him to the ground. “There’s no way in Tartarus that I am saying no to that!”

Anson himself just looked shocked as everypony else in the room cheered and congratulated them. Looking at Jack, he could only think of one thing to say. “Well… That escalated quickly.”

“Nah, I saw it coming.” Blood Cleaver spoke up from right next to them. “But, it sure is nice to see love like that.”

Before Anson could say anything else though, one of his friends soon caught his attention as he looked back at her. It was Pinkie Pie, who was happily smiling. “Hey Sonny!”

“Hi Pinkie, what brings you here?”

“Well,” She said, looking upward. “It is the season.” Anson soon looked up, only to see that Blood Cleaver was at the top of a ladder holding the Mistletoe. All he did was smile and nod his head, thanking her mentally.

“Yes it is, Pinkie.” He replied as the two of them kissed one another. Shortly afterwards though, both of them noticed Faith as she asked them a surprising question.

“Hey dad, Is Pinkie going to be my new Mom?”

Pinkie’s only reply to that question was a giggle as she messed around a little with Faith’s hair. “If that’s okay with Sonny, then it’s okay with me.”

Pinkie Pie, Anson and Blood Cleaver were all walking down the hallway to the front entrance of Twilight’s castle. They were planning to go outside for a while to get some fresh air since it had become too crowded inside, making the temperature rise at a steady pace.

While walking they spoke about whatever came to their minds.

“So, have a date set up yet?” Blood Cleaver asked.

“Well, the Gala is on New Year’s eve,” Pinkie replied. “So maybe then? After Hearth’s Warming though, that’s for sure. I wanted to be able to spend my favorite holiday with one of my best friends.” The Earth Pony bounced happily as she scratched the top of Anson’s head to mess with his hair.

“I’m all for it. Still though, I’m surprised about Nicko and Eris. I honestly never expected him to propose to her.” Anson said, recalling everything that happened a few minutes earlier. “I’m happy for them.”

Blood Cleaver nodded. “I can only hope to have something like that myself in the future. A little hard when I’m not welcome in my native universe, safe for a few individuals that still see me as a friend.”

“Well, you’re always welcome here Blood.” Anson smiled, kneeling in a little to whisper “Both you and Jack.”

“Yepperoni! I’ll even make sure to throw you a Welcome Back to our World party when you come back! … Say… You kind of remind me of my sisters back at my family's rock farm.” The Earth Pony replied, looking at Blood from all angles. “Do you happen to be secretly related to me somehow? Because if you were, I’ll be super happy to find a long lost sister!! We can bake cakes, throw parties-.”

Blood Cleaver laughed at Pinkie’s enthusiasm. “Pinkie, while I would love that, I’m from another universe and not even the same race as you are. But You’re not entirely wrong. While not technically correct, you could say I am indeed your sister in my home universe.” Blood Cleaver explained.

Pinkie gasped, which soon lead to her hugging Blood Cleaver so tight that she would probably slip out of her arms. “Oh my gosh!! This is the best Hearth’s Warming EVER!!!”

“Pinkie…” Anson raised an eyebrow, looking at her. “Can you give her some space?”

“Whoops! Sorry Sis…” Pinkie complied, letting go of her grip on Blood Cleaver.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind. I’m used to worse.” Blood Cleaver chuckled. “As glad as you seem about having an additional sister Pinkie, I’ll have to warn that the circumstances around my creation are not a very pleasant experience for all involved. I try and prevent it from happening in any universe where it’s likely I’ll be created.”

“Don’t worry,” Anson smirked, while Pinkie was just bouncing around joyfully in the cold snowy streets. “I’ll be making sure to keep an eye on her and if anything’s up, I’ll summon you… Which reminds me… I never gave you my token, did I?”

“Ah, no. I should give you mine as well, shouldn’t I?” Blood Cleaver said as she took out her token and presented it to Anson. Blood Cleaver’s token was a black kitchen knife with a red sheen around the edges and a crimson red handle, each side of the blade decorated with a single equally crimson rune.

Anson soon got out his own token. A dark purple Gem that was known as a Dark El Shard. “Just use the crystal and I’ll come.” He told her as the two of them exchanged tokens. “Have a safe journey, Blood Cleaver.”

“Aww, you’re leaving?” Pinkie pouted to herself. “Well, that’s a shame. I had so many things to ask you, but I guess that can wait.”

“Pinkie, I’m not leaving just yet. The party is still going, isn’t it? I’ll be leaving afterwards since I have my work in the Multiverse cut out for me, but I’ll make sure to visit some time.” Blood Cleaver explained smiling.

“Yay!!” She squealed, hugging her one more time. “Happy Hearths Warming!! Come on, Sonny!! Let’s get inside and go sit by the fireplace.” Anson smiled, agreeing with Pinkie and waving goodbye to Blood as they walked inside the Nocte family’s new home.

“You too Pinkie, you too. But you had questions for me you said? We still have some time. I can try answering some for you if you wish.”

“Well… Why would you want to prevent your own birth in other worlds?” She asked. “Are they like big meanies or something? Oh, and why can’t you return to your universe? You’re not banished or something now are you?”

“Oh, no. I’m not really banished, there’s nothing physically keeping me from returning, but I’m kind of a wanted woman in my version of Equestria. And the reason I wish to prevent my own creation… It’s a bit complicated, but it has to do with a few circumstances that if not changed or controlled could end very badly for all involved. The only reason I avoided the worst outcome was because I met my world’s original Displaced. But many of the worlds where I come into being… they’re not as lucky… And since there’s not much point to letting more versions of me pop up and live miserable lives that they can’t escape like I did, I try to prevent it all from happening.” Blood Cleaver explained to Pinkie Pie.

“Oh… so if you don’t help them, they’ll be sad all the time?”

“Well… perhaps not all the time. The reason I’m wanted, the reason I wouldn’t have had a good life unless I changed somehow is because of my creation. The reason I say it’s complicated when I call you sister is because I’m not technically your sister, even in my universe, I’m more… part of what once happened to be Pinkie Pie, and her other half who has adapted to her role and taken on the name, that’s who I call sister. So… You see why I don’t like myself being created? In order for me and my sister to be created, the original Pinkie Pie has to cease to exist. And even though we’re both created as a result, we’re both incomplete. Only after several years do we become whole enough to count as separate entities instead of two half souls who are two parts of a whole.

And because of this, because I’m unhappy about this turn of events, the still undeveloped form of me does something that gets her wanted. She tries to kill the one responsible for doing it to her and her sister.

By now, I have found a way to reverse the effect, unfortunately the spell I know will only work for a short time after the split, after that, they’re too different to be turned back into one.”

“Oh… What about me? Do I run the risk of having it happen to me too?” Pinkie asked, a little worried as she snuggled close to Anson. “I don’t want to disappear from Sonny.”

“Don’t worry Pinkie. Your Equestria is far too different for it to happen, and I’ve already made sure to remove any of the factors I could that would lead to it happening. But if you want to be extremely sure, I know some things you could do to prevent it all entirely if it was to creep up after all.” Blood Cleaver reassured Pinkie Pie.

“Okay, Thank you Sis! Good night!” She told her, holding Blood and Anson together in a group hug before the two of them walked back inside. But Blood wasn’t alone as Faith soon walked up to her, with Jack by her side. “Do you two have to go? We were having such a great time earlier.”

“Unfortunately we can’t stay Faith. I need to get Jack back to his universe, and I have to continue doing my duty. We can come and visit from time to time, but ultimately we do have to leave.” Blood Cleaver explained. “But yes, I believe I speak for both of us when I say we had a grand time here.”

“Indeed.” Jack confirmed.

“I’m going to miss you two.” Faith told her, getting closer and hugging Jack unexpectedly, slightly blushing. “You know, I would be lying if I didn’t say that Jack looks… cute.”

“He certainly does have the looks, but don’t be fooled. He is… how old are you again?” Blood Cleaver asked.

Jack blushed at the comments to his appearance and took some time to respond. “Well, in my Equestria I’d be a little over ten thousand years old, however, the cycle of a year is slightly longer on my Equestria than it was on earth, so I’m not really sure to be completely honest, never thought it would matter to keep counting my age in Earth years.” Jack explained.

“Right, so he is a bit old for you Faith. Unless your appearance isn’t the only thing not to age.” Blood Cleaver asked with a mischievous smile.

“My body is the only thing not affected by time, and in my loneliness certain of my emotions have unfortunately dulled. I’m not sure I’ve felt attraction to a female during any of my ten thousand years on Equus. So the topic about any such relationships is unfortunately not currently up for discussion and I would appreciate if you’d drop it Blood Cleaver.” Jack told Blood Cleaver and gave her a stern look.

“Still, I think you should have this,” Faith said, going up to Jack’s shoulder and kissing him on the cheek. “I care for you and see you as a family guardian, so I don’t want you to be left out or feel lonely.”

“Oh, he won’t be lonely. From what I gathered he will have a hard time getting rid of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Blood Cleaver commented.

“Eh he he…” Jack nervously chuckled as he recalled what little he had heard about the three trouble makers during his stay here.

“Still, I’ll miss you Frosty. Goodbye and Happy Hearth’s Warming!” The Code Queen told him before walking inside and joining her father.

“Well, I guess our time here is running out. What do you say we leave them a few presents before leaving?” Blood Cleaver suggested.

Jack nodded and began thinking of what to leave behind while Blood Cleaver began preparing her own gifts. After they were done, Blood Cleaver decided to make sure Pinkie Pie would find them and make sure everyone got their presents. As they were done, Blood Cleaver took Jack’s hand and they leapt through a portal back to his universe.

Next morning

Early in the morning, Nicko was stirred awake when he heard the sounds of hoofsteps walking past the door to his new bedroom. He and Eris were in their own room together and had a LOT of things to think about besides Hearth’s Warming and the Wedding, but his immediate focus right now was the hoofsteps outside his door. Leaving Eris in the bedroom, he quietly changed clothes and soon walked downstairs, where the first things he noticed was a Pink Earth Pony, A cupcake, and a whole pile of gifts that made it look like a excavator was used to deliver the presents because it almost reached the ceiling.

“Holy sh-!”

Pinkie soon turned around, noticing Nicko. “Oh, Hi Nicky!! Look who left us these Hearth’s Warming presents.” The Earth Pony replied, showing a letter that was left behind. Nicko picked it up, noticing that it was from Blood Cleaver and Jack. Reading the note, it said: “From Jack Frost and Blood Cleaver, wishing you all a happy Heart’s Warming!”

“Well, that’s awfully nice of them to be leaving us with these,” Nicko replied before looking at the time and then looking at Pinkie trying to sneak around the pile to find her gift. “Hey, I got an idea.”

“What’s that?”

“Why don’t we put the gifts in everypony’s room so they could wake up to find them?”

“That sounds PERFECT-!” Pinkie was about to shout it out loud until Nicko put a finger to his mouth and shushed her.

“But we need to do this quietly…” He told her. “Do the presents have nametags Pinkie?”

“Yepperoni! All tagged and ready to go! It even says who it’s from on each individual present.” Pinkie said excitedly.

“Okay perfect. Lets carry a few of them upstairs before we come back for more. I got Eris’ and mine. Can you get Faith’s?” Nicko then asked. A nod of the head was the only thing he got before the two of them started to bring everything to their respected rooms inside the Nocte’s home. However, the Tricky part came after that, when they had to deliver gifts for Amy and her family on the other side of town. Fortunately, Eris was awake by then and a snap of Chaos Magic had them delivered to their respected places. Pinkie soon went back into Anson’s room while Eris and the Rune Slayer stayed in their room as a little bit of morning light pierced through their curtains.

“So, how about we open them?” Eris asked. “The suspense is killing me.”

“Ladies first.” Nicko told her, kissing her on the cheek.

“Aww, you’re cute when you act like a gentlecolt.” She replied, soon unwrapping the first gift she received. “Oh my… This looks amazing.” The Draconequus now was holding a miniature frozen star that was glowing with Plasma energy on the inside. She saw it as both beautiful and chaotic, which really fit with her personality and with only a small tag at the bottom that read “DO NOT EXPOSE TO WATER”. The second gift that she received looked like a Spyglass, but had a very handy ability. She could be able to see things other than what was in front of her.

The Draconequus found out this for herself when she looked through it at a window, only to be seeing Spike in his bed at the Castle.

“Blood Cleaver and Jack have really good tastes.” She smiled. “Now, what did they give you, Nicky?” She cooed as she slithered over to Nicko’s end. He was holding two gifts, like with Eris, but that were quite different in size and got her to be a little… curious.

When Nicko opened the first gift from jack, he was a bit… surprised to say the least. It was an armband with a snowflake attached to it. A nice accessory for him to have on his wrist. The second gift though from Blood had a small note on the outside. “I was told to give this to you, so I thought it’ll be a good gift. See you around” When he set the letter aside, Nicko opened the small cardboard package to find a sword inside. It was as long as his normal weapons, but this one felt different as it had a strange crystal along the edge of it.

“Wow… this is… awesome.” Nicko said as he gripped it “It feels a lot like my two other blades. I think this one though should have a name.”

“Well,” Eris replied. “The gem looks like the void and Blood came here with Jack from the void… How about Void Edge?”

Nicko thought the name through for a few minutes before smiling. “I think that would be a great name.” He soon dismissed the sword as he turned towards Eris. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Eris.”

“You too, my dear Nicky.” Eris cooed before she went to cuddle with her future husband, kissing him on the lips as they enjoyed each other’s presence.

End Log 17

Log 18- Red Dawn

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Of Magic and Machines- Red Dawn

Ponyville (Day of Hearth’s Warming)

As the snow began to fall and the day began to progress, mostly everypony was excited by the presents that they received on Hearth’s Warming. Pinkie had gotten a special baking cookbook so she could plan to bake more recipes whenever she had the time, Twilight had received a vast amount of research material to continue her studies in the developments of magic and all of the guests that were at the celebration on Heart Warmers eve got gifts that were related to each one’s interest and personality. Spike had even received a limited edition Power Ponies Annual that was so rare, it was no longer sold in stores anymore.

But the biggest gift that Nicko was grateful for was the gift of seeing his family again. The Nocte’s now had a new home in ponyville, Eris had accepted his proposal for marriage and now they were all under one roof. One happy family together at last. But it also meant that Nicko had to inform his parents, his student Moondancer and his friend-turned-brother Leo about the Displaced. He had talked about it with Eris and the two of them agreed that the best way for them to learn about it was to see it in action.

Even Anson agreed to help with the matter. That to him, was progress. But on the other hand, talking to Twilight about it seemed to have brought up some incidents that had happened in the past. As it turns out, Ponyville had it’s fair share of Displaced moments even before Nicko was released from his stone statue. And that was because of Amy. A golden bear named Freddy and a gravity queen named Kat were amongst the few Displaced that had caused some… trouble for Celestia and the Elements of Harmony.

Despite this though, things had gone quite smoothly this morning and even Prince Artemis had decided to stop by the Nocte’s new home to see how the family was settling in. When Nicko had caught him up to speed on what he was planning to do, Artemis surprised him by saying that he wanted to join in and learn a thing or two about them. He had a very interesting experience with Kat when she was here and he was interested in learning about the Displaced ever since meeting her. So what a better way to start than by listening in on the explanation?

It all sounded good in theory and it was off to a great start. The Rune Slayer had showed them the research report that was composed by Clover the Clever on the matter and that did wonders. Around the moment where they were about to talk about summoning a Displaced was when things did not go according to plan. Around then, Nicko felt like he was being yanked by a bungee cord. A sign that a Displaced was going to summon him.

“Well, that’s ironic.” He mumbled, just as he was getting off the floor and grabbing his red coat. “We just started talking about summoning a Displaced and one of them is trying to summon me.”

“Should we wait til you get back?” Artemis asked.

“Actually, I had something planned for if this came up,” Eris interjected, using her magic to conjure an orb the size of a bowling ball and set it on the floor. “Thanks to this scrying orb, we can see everything that Nicko encounters while he’s in the world of the Displaced that is calling him. Sometimes, it’s better just to show you how something works than just telling you and I think this could be a perfect case.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Nicko’s brother, Anson, replied. He remembered when he summoned Orpheus in order for The Infinity Sword to defeat Eric. Now, somepony was probably relying on Nicko’s help. “Just be careful. Not all Displaced are considered friendly.”

“I already had to deal with an undying juggernaut that tried to bash my head into the ground if it weren’t for Faith’s actions and my quick thinking,” The Rune Slayer retorted, recalling the incident with Solomon Grundy back at Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. “I think I got this.” With that, he let the pulling sensation overtake him as he soon faded out of the room and all the people inside watched Eris’ Scrying orb whir to life.

Canterlot (Realm of the Shadow)

To say that everything was calm and peaceful in this version of Equestria was a bit of an understatement. Discord had only been freed for almost two days and within that timeframe, he managed to cause a lot of chaos and make a few mistakes. One mistake being that he didn’t realized how Celestia’s student would free herself from being discorded. And now, it was most likely that the rest of the elements were free as well.

Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty and finally, Magic.

Time was limited for the Draconequus. Very limited. So, he did the only thing that he could in that instance and struck a deal with the other powerful being that he had freed. Now, he was going to enact a plan that the two of them had put together. It was now in the late afternoon and sundown was only hours away. Once the plan was successful, his “partner” could take care of the rest.

Of course, that would be the case if something else didn’t catch his attention at that moment. Earlier, a stone with a weird inscription dropped on top of his head and landed at the base of one of the statues. The copy that he had specifically created. But in that moment, a small flash of light went off. Unaware to the Spirit of Chaos at all.

The first thing that Nicko felt as he emerged in this new world was being thrown like a ragdoll into a stone statue. The Rune Slayer have had his fair share of crash landings, but out of all of those times, none of them involved a stone statue in Canterlot’s royal garden. He had a blistering headache and was trying to make sense of what was going on. The first thing he did notice was all the things in the air that were floating around. Chairs, books, filing cabinets. Anything that wasn’t held down by a superior force was floating in suspended animation. Which lead him to believe the most likely case for something like this.

Discord.

Back home, Eris had told him of the past mistakes that her father had committed and right now, he was in someone else's timeframe that was years behind his own. When he got onto his feet though was when he notice the statue that he crashed into. A bipedal creature with a headband that held back his hair and wore very strange clothing. Pointed shoes, strange baggy pants that reminded the Rune Slayer of his old garments and other pieces lied in a pile. But the metal nameplate that was there before still remained. It only had one word across it.

“D… I… O…” Nicko spelled out. At first, he thought that there was a spelling error. Maybe they meant “Diego” or something along those lines. But he had no time to think. He felt the presence of this world's Discord looming closer. He had to hide.

Quickly, he took cover by a wall of a hedge maze and saw this world spirit of chaos survey the scene in front of him, scratching his head with his eagle talon. “Now this is bizarre. I swore that the fake statue I had here for Dio was still standing last time I looked.”

“So that person’s name is Dio,” Nicko thought to himself, wondering why exactly would someone name himself the italian word that meant “God”. He didn’t have much time to think on it though as he began to hear some commotion from nearby.

“There he is!!”

“Let’s get him, girls!!”

“Hang on a second… Is that… Twilight?” The Rune Slayer questioned, seeing that the Alicorn Princess that he knew back in his realm was only just a Unicorn here. He looked on as he watched the Mane Six seal Discord away in stone and have everything go back to normal again. Even this world's version of Celestia came down to congratulate them on their success. However, her kind words soon turned into shock as she looked at the crumpled pile of what was once a statue.

“T-that’s impossible. How can—?”

“Princess, is something wrong?” Twilight asked, now looking at the pile of rubble as Rainbow Dash floated over and started to poke it. “It’s just a broken statue.”

“It’s not just an ordinary stone statue, my dear student.” The princess said to her, with words of caution in her voice. “This statue was of another creature that my sister and I had to seal away long ago. A creature that was only seen during the night and brought fear to all those who saw his face. Seeing this here only makes me think of two possibilities… Either this creature is no longer a threat… or we have a much bigger problem to worry about.”

It was only then that Rainbow, who was messing around with the stone pieces, saw something that caught her attention. “Uhh… girls. I don’t think it’s no longer a threat,” Using her hoof, she pulled out a small piece of plastic that had some writing. “This thing was a prop.”

“What!?” Princess Celestia gasped, casting a spell that caused what remained of the statue to disappear in a cloud of pink smoke. “I should’ve known that Discord would do something like this to make things more troublesome. Have the guards search every inch of the palace and the garden!!”

“Maybe I should get out of here—” Nicko thought to himself, before turning around and beginning to slowly walk out of the garden. That was, until he stepped on a twig and caused it to snap.

“What was that?”

“Well there goes Plan A.” Nicko sighed. As Celestia rounded the corner, the Rune Slayer made a break for it and used his magic to blast off right in front of the Alicorn and all the way through to the other end of the garden.

“What in tarnation was that!?”

“Whatever it is, I’ll get them!!” Nicko heard Rainbow Dash call out. He personally groaned. This was Griffonia all over again. Just that Eris was not here to help this time around and neither was Ryu. But the most unlikely of voices soon rose up, stopping Rainbow in her tracks.

“Dash, wait! That can’t be what Celestia was talking about just now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you hear her say that it was only seen during the night?” The Pegasus pointed out as Nicko took up a new hiding place in the branches of a tree.

“Wait… That could only mean that it’s Nocturnal… But what is this creature anyway, Princess?” Twilight asked her teacher. Nicko saw this as a personal cue to exit stage right and make a break for it while everypony’s back was turned. Upon getting on the castle wall though, his presence caught the attention of a young Alicorn as Nicko leaped off of the edge and landed on top of the friendship express. She was curious as to who they were, but when her sister called her, Luna had to focus her attention elsewhere as the storm clouds overhead began to rumble.

Celestia herself lead the ponies inside, explaining everything she knew of the figure she and her sister knew as Dio. By the time he was done, all six of the Elements had mixed feelings about him. But Luna herself had a suspicion that she had shared with her sister. A suspicion of a possible place where he might be hiding.

When it rains, it pours. And right now, Nicko felt like he was getting assaulted by bullets of raindrops. After going train surfing for the past twenty minutes, the Rune Slayer had began to travel through the Everfree Forest, hopefully to find shelter from the storm as the sun had finally set. Some places he had already looked either had a hydra wanting to eat him alive, a hibernating Ursa Major or a pack of Timberwolves. But he noticed that the Timberwolves in this forest were acting rather… strange. Like they were afraid of him rather than wanting to eat him alive.

Soon though, The Rune Slayer came across what he thought would help him until the storm passed. A castle that looked like it was abandoned on the outside. Carefully, he walked up to the doors and slowly pushed them open. Walking in though, those same doors soon slammed behind him shut and locked themselves.

“Great… something tells me that I’m not alone,” he thought as he continued to walk. “Hello? Anyone home?”

Almost immediately, Dio knew that something was wrong. Discord had been gone quite a while, and for what he had said to be a “simple errand”, he was taking a suspiciously long time. The out of phase orbits of the sun and moon also seemed to have been corrected, restored to their natural harmonic pattern.

He thought back. “This all started since I picked up that peculiar stone. Two strange events happening in such a short time is hardly a coincidence.”

As a bolt of lightning went off outside, Dio heard the doors to the front of his castle slam shut. Could that have been Discord? He wasn’t the kind of Draconequus that would use the front door though. Something didn’t feel right.

“Hello? Anyone home?”

Strange. Was that a visitor? At this time of night? Dio moved, cautiously. “That’s not possible,” Dio whispered. “Nobody ever comes out this far. Judging from the voice’s pitch, I'm certain that it’s a male of some species, although it’s accent is unfamiliar.”

Thinking ahead, he used his inhuman strength to cling to the bricks on the wall and climb to where he was on the ceiling. The rain thundering outside served to drown any sound he might have made.

He moved—silently—into the main chamber, settling right above the massive door entrance which he knew would give him as much vision as possible. He’d designed the place after all. There weren’t any secrets his domain was hiding from him. In this position, any normal creature would’ve been tired in moments. Dio wasn’t. The full potential of the human body still occasionally caught him off guard.

Dio looked down. He gasped, genuinely surprised for the first time in what felt like an eternity. The intruder wore a black undershirt and pants with a blood red coat and ebony gloves that had a silver cross on it. In addition, he also has a set of silver shoes that were almost like his and the boy also had hair that resembled fire.

That wasn’t what surprised Dio however.

“That shape,” Dio breathed to himself. “It’s….. –” Dio paused “– human.” It was strange really. Until that moment, Dio had almost completely forgotten where he’d come from. He’d been too busy conquering Equus to worry about it.

“Whoever this person is, I need him alive.” Dio looked on, observant. The boy turned around slightly; Dio pulled out the strange rune-inscribed stone, focussing on what looked like a tattoo on the boy’s left arm. “They both have the same design. Far from a coincidence. He should be able to tell me what has happened to Discord.”

Dio descended, climbing down. It was impolite to not personally address a house guest. He bared his fangs. It was time he introduced himself.

Nicko was trying to figure out how the hell to see through the pitch black darkness that surrounded the halls of the main chamber he had walked into. Conjuring a fire rune in the palm of his hands, he held the Rune above his head as he walked around. There were swords, shields, empty suits of armor and a lot of other things that made him feel like he just stepped into the Castle of Dracula in Castlevania.

“Geez. First, there was seeing Discord getting stoned earlier today, me having to bail out of Canterlot like I was a criminal and now I’m stuck in a spooky castle.” He said to himself as the Rune Slayer noticed the coffin on the other end of the room. The only letters on the lid being DIO. “There it is again. Dio… First, there was the statue of him I was thrown into, Discord mentioning his name along with Celestia and now this?...... He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

“You are most definitely correct in that regard,” the Rune Slayer heard, causing him to turn around. The light from his flame now illuminated a figure with pale alabaster skin. “This certainly is a bizarre encounter. I heard you enter all the way from the other side of my castle.”

“You must be Dio, then?” Nicko asked, trying to clarify his assumptions of whether or not this was him. He knew that some Displaced could make copies of themselves, so he tried to air on the side of caution.

Dio smirked. “That is correct. I AM DIO. My full name is Dio Brando, but you may call me Dio if you prefer.” He raised his arm, holding out a stone with a strange rune inscribed on the surface. “From you already knowing my name, I assume you’ve heard about me before. This is my castle, most of which I currently possess lies within. By what I assume to be no mere coincidence, my ally Discord went missing a short while after me finding this. Judging from the tattoo underneath your coat, I guess you have some kind of involvement.”

“I never met your Discord, but I did see him get resealed by the Elements of Harmony after they caught him by surprise. When I originally came here, I crashed into the statue of yourself that he created?” Nicko replied, now noticing the object in Dio’s hands. “And as of that, you seem to have found my token.”

“So suddenly?” Dio questioned, before letting out a deep sigh of disappointment. “The fool. He got himself into that mess. I’d expected him to have learned something from last time. I told him to create that statue to buy me some time, but if it’s been destroyed it won’t fool anyone now.” His voice changed, giving off a more serious tone. “You said that you arrived in Equestria and something about a token. You mean that you’re not from this world, don’t you?”

“It’s a bit complex to explain, but you’re spot on.” Nicko explained. “Are you familiar with the Multiverse by any chance?”

“I am,” Dio replied. “It’s the theory of how there are an infinite possible number of universes, and how it comprises everything that exists.” He smiled. “That seems to no longer be theoretical.”

Dio walked across the room, lighting a small fireplace in the side of the wall. A second source of light illuminated the room. He sat down—book in hand—on a throne-like chair that seemly appeared from nowhere; a smaller, worn-down chair appearing beside Nicko. “But pardon my manners, I never offered you a chair. Please” – Dio waved, offering – “take a seat. We have much to discuss.”

Nicko thanked the man for his kindness as he took him up on his offer and sat down. “Well, to put it in simple terms, there are an infinite number of Equestria’s. Each one being either similar or different from one another. Your world is different than mine because of a few things. But most importantly, it’s ten years from this current point in time and a lot of things are different. I can’t go into specifics though because it may upset the space-time balance or some crap along those lines,” he explained. “Do you have anymore questions, Mr. Dio?”

“Just a couple more,” said Dio, opening his book. “Let me be frank and cut to the chase. Who are you? From how you act—carrying yourself like a hero—I’d say that you’ve already done this before. You yourself don’t seem fazed at all by being in a different dimension. Have you met others such as myself? And how do you create one of these curious tokens?”

“Well, my name is Nicko, for starters. Yes, I have done this a couple of times here and there. Met people, I have, but like you in personality? Not really… Unless if you count my teacher Ryu. As for the tokens, that’s a little… complicated.”

Dio turned a page of his book. “I’m unsure whether to take that as a compliment or not. Depending on, I’ll let it slide. However, this Ryu sounds like an interesting person. As for this token business being complicated, I’d still rather know as much about it as possible,” he said. “I hate being uninformed.”

“Well, first, you need an item you want to cast into the void. Second, you need to channel a bit of your power into it so another Displaced could know who the token belongs to. It may seem simple, but the summoning portion of it is different. It works two ways and it depends on willpower,” Nicko explained, taking a rubber band out of his jacket to demonstrate. “Either you can summon someone here to you, or they can resist and instead pull you to them. It’s like a bungee cord. Also, about Ryu… He’s not in the best of states as he is. Plus, he’s a Kaiser and the Uncle of Applejack. Despite those though, he taught me a few things that have helped me over time.” The Rune Slayer notice Dio twitch a little at the mentioning of the earth pony. Something internally told him that he wasn’t very fond of her or her friends, so he decided to avoid the topic in general.

“Back to the original topic though, I need to warn you that the circumstances are different depending on what your abilities are. For me, I have Rune magic and it wasn’t that hard for me. But for those who use other sources of power, it could be a little harder for them. But something tells me you wouldn’t have any difficulties,” Nicko told him as he shifted a little in his chair. “After all, I can feel your energy. And you have an IMMENSE amount of it.”

“So he can feel my energy. That’s valuable information,” thought Dio, making a mental note. He stood up. Scanning the room, he finally settled on an arrow hanging on the wall, a bow resting behind it; the wooden shaft having worn with age. The arrow head was gold and curved, with an odd insect-like carving on the flat face. Dio took it off the wall, bringing it towards Nicko. “This item was valuable to me, however its usefulness had recently ended. It should serve well for another purpose such as this.”

While Dio didn’t have any magic, Nicko had said that he’d felt an “immense” amount of energy coming from him. This encounter had revealed to him an infinite range of possibilities, not just with travel–but also new ways to manipulate that energy. His fighting spirit. Dio began to channel it, in a way different than what he was use to. It felt strange to him. The overflowing power coursed into the arrow, sparking with energy. Immediately he knew that something about the arrow’s properties had changed. He handed the arrow to Nicko.

Nicko held the arrow, inspecting it carefully. “Usefulness you say? What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Whomever is pierced by that arrow,” said Dio, waiting “is granted a special type of power known as a Stand: a mystical spirit guardian of sorts. They are said to be the physical manifestation of a person’s fighting spirit, requiring huge amounts of willpower to control. Unfortunately, there is only a sole person truly capable of using one in this dimension. Myself.”

“Well, let’s just say you putting in the energy needed just might make it useful again. Hang on a second, I need to get out Void Edge.”

“Void Edge?”

Before Nicko could respond, a sword appeared in Nicko’s hand. One with a purple crystal around the handle. “Void Edge is one of three swords I carry that I can summon. It’ll allow me to cast your token out into the void. But first, is there something you want to say? Most Displaced add a saying to their token that other Displaced can hear. You can hear mine from my Rune Slayer mark,” he told him. Looking at the token, Dio could now hear the voice of the Displaced.

I am Nicko. The Rune Slayer with a kind heart. The power that's in my grasp and that you control will become the power that the darkness will fear. May there be light on the roads that you travel

“Of course, each one is different and not necessarily are all of them the same. Hell, some tokens have other special traits, but I can go over that once were done with yours Dio.”

“Very well then,” said Dio, satisfied. He thought for a moment. “I believe I’ve decided on a message.” He spoke it out loud.

Everyone strives in pursuit of peace of mind. I am Dio. Dio Brando. Lord of the Dark. Master of The World. If you seek perfection, summon me, and I will grant you peace of mind that will last forever.

“How’s that?”

“That sounds… interesting, but I’m not one to judge.” Nicko retorted. Using his sword, he cut open a small hole into the void and casted out the arrow into it. Dio watched as the single arrow multiplied before disappearing completely. With a tug of his wrist, Nicko brought two arrows from the rift back into his hand before closing it. He tossed one to Dio, while holding onto another one. “It’s always good to keep one of your tokens on hand. You can use your powers to multiply it as well, so you keep one on hand. Now, I want to ask you about something, Dio. About these… Stands. You said it involves being pierced by the Arrow. Do you think that it still might work?”

“I don’t see why not,” replied Dio. “It’s not the arrow itself that grants Stands, but rather the physical properties of the arrowhead. As long as it remains undamaged, it should still be able to grant Stand powers to those it pierces.” He grinned at Nicko. “You’re... not planning on using it on yourself are you? Or perhaps someone you know? I should warn you, if the person doesn’t have enough willpower to control their Stand–they will die; quickly or slowly though I have no idea.”

“We won’t know unless we try, right?”

“Indeed. But –” the arrow Nicko was holding onto vanished, appearing in Dio’s hand “– you are still so young. So naive. Please don’t take it this wrong way, I understand you're a very powerful warrior, and I don’t doubt that you, or your friends, would be excellent Stand users. Honestly, it’s a shame to waste anyone with so much capability.”

Silence erupted throughout the castle as the rain finished its assault. Nicko sighed a little, looking back at Dio. With a snap of his finger, the token reappeared back in his hand as he placed it in his coat pocket. “Yes, I fully understand that. I’ll wait until the time is right then,” he told the Lord as he straightened himself up. “Maybe my student could use one. She has a lot of will, but is just beginning to learn a rare form of magic that she had just discovered. Are Stands based off of anything in particular? Because I heard you mention “The World”?”

Dio himself sighed, taking a moment to explain how the original Stands were formed off of the Major Arcana Tarot cards while other Stands were based off of the Egyptian Gods based on the Tarot’s origins. He also mentioned the fact that different stands have different powers.

“Interesting…” Nicko told Dio as he thought to himself. He remembered the ancient egyptian goddess of magic, Isis, and thought that something like that could help make his magic easier for Moondancer to control back home. “Now Dio, I was curious on something… What exact powers does The World control?”

“I thought that’d be obvious,” Dio told Nicko, laughing as a golden flame-like aura surrounded his body. “The power of The World is the power to rule over the world itself.”

“Like bend the earth to your will or the way the world flow—” Nicko paused for a minute, thinking the words through. “Time. It’s time isn’t it?”

The air itself seemed to catch its breath. Dio clapped his hands. “Perceptive. Congratulations, I, Dio, am impressed. Yes, the power of The World is” – he began to pose, energy radiating from his body – “the power over time itself.”

“ I had a guess on that. When you said rule over the world itself, I was originally thinking of elements like the earth we walk on or the air we breath. However, I realize that those are things that can cease. The ground can stop moving at any point. Water could be blocked by a water dam. Fire can be smothered and air can be cut off. Time is the only thing that some wish they had more of or can control.” Nicko explained his hypothesis. “Now, have you had the chance to practice these gifts? If not, I can try something if you would like.”

“Indeed. Time is something must never cease marching forwards. Try to imagine a world with no time; a world in which rain never fell; particles never moved; the conversion of energy which never transpired. Everything takes time. We can’t feel it, but it's there. Without time, nothing is possible. Therefore, it is everything,” Dio explained. “As for whether or not I’ve practiced with my new gift, I already have–while we’ve been in this exact same room in fact. Just not as much I would’ve liked. I do wish to practice this ability more. I was only released recently, and obtained this Stand even more so. I’d like to see what you’d do. This could very well turn out to be a perfect opportunity for the both of us. Perhaps though, we may want to move into a bigger venue?”

“Lead the way. It is your castle after all, Dio.”

“Very well.” Dio opened the main door, leading Nicko into a large hallway. Moonlight shone through the stained glass windows above. As they walked, Dio explained to Nicko the castle’s history, how it had been the center of his power in the ancient days, and how the it seemed that Celestia and Luna had taken it for their own purposes after he’d been sealed away. They continued walking until Dio turned a corner, revealing what appeared to an extremely large chamber of some sort. He turned over to Nicko. “This place should hopefully suffice.”

“Yes it will,” Nicko agreed, picking up a stone that was on the floor. Dio was at first confused by why the boy would need a rock for this test of his, but soon, the Rune Slayer began to explain. “Okay, for this test, I’m using one of my Spells on this rock called Splash Explosion. Because of that, the stone will set itself off and explode like a grenade a few seconds after I throw it. Try using your Stand’s powers to catch all of the stone shrapnel that would burst forth from it. Sound simple enough?”

“I believe so. This should be an easy task for my Stand; The World, to accomplish.”

“Alright, let’s give it a shot then.” With that, Nicko took the stone that he was idly tossing and threw it towards Dio. Even though it was meant to act like a grenade, The Rune Slayer still threw it like a baseball.

“Now I shall show you the power of my Stand!” Dio shouted. The stone hurtled towards him, exploding with tremendous force. His Stand manifested beside him. It had a humanoid shape with an incredibly well endowed and very muscular build. On its head was a headpiece, slanted at a steep angle, giving the look of an inverted triangle. It appeared to have diving cylinders on its back; clock faces on both of its hands; and heart shaped guards on its knees, crotch, the base of the abdomen, and chin.

“Za Warudo! Toki yo Tomare!”

Everything around Dio, including the stone which had just exploded, froze. Everything around him looked Monochromatic, except for him and The World. Unsure of how long this state would last, Dio focused on his current task. Quickly he proceeded to remove the pieces of shrapnel in the air. He had to be careful though, as he couldn’t tell whether the pieces would still be carrying whatever momentum they might’ve previously had before. He grabbed them, leaving the pieces in his hands. “It’s strange to think of time moving while frozen like this,” he thought.

He surveyed the area. Sure that he had removed all the shrapnel in the area, he moved to his original spot and began to feel the pull of time.

“Soshite Toki wa Ugokidasu.”

Time began to move again. Life regained colour, and he felt the force of the shrapnel dig into his palms. Blood began to drip out before quickly stopping as his body healed.

“Well done, that was a very marvelous display of power—” Nicko stopped talking, turning around a little at the back wall to where the entrance of the castle would be. To Dio’s surprise, he summoned another sword. One that was named Rovaniik, the word for Wanderer in the dragon tongue. But what would make him feel like that?

“Someone else is here.”

“I suspect so.” Dio faced towards the doorway. “Show yourself intruder. Who dares to enter the realm of the Lord of the Night?”

Nicko paused a minute, placing his hand on the floor. He closed his eyes for a minute, took a deep breath, and sighed. “It’s using magic. An invisibility spell to hide themselves from our field of vision. Clever… But…” He soon took a fire rune in one hand and merged it with an ice rune in the other as it formed a ball of water. “Also easy to outsmart.”

The ball of water soon dispersed as a large blast of it landed on the caster of the Spell. Surprisingly, Dio knew them. Nicko also could recognize a bit of it, but he too knew that he was in another world and that the circumstances might change.

“That was clever of you,” said Dio, speaking to the figure. “You knew that I couldn’t sense magic. I was genuinely surprised. You probably followed my associate all the way here didn’t you, Luna.”

“W-who are you?” The Young Alicorn that was standing there asked. “W-why do you look so… scary?”

“Hmmm, that’s an interesting development. She doesn’t seem to remember who I am. What exactly happened to her?” he thought to himself. “I can use this. She may be a valuable pawn for me to use against her sister.”

“Um, Dio. If I may…” Nicko whispered. “She still seems to be recovering. Before Discord was freed, she turned to Nightmare Moon and the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony had to free her. It’s not my place to say this… but maybe her memories of you are gone.”

“It seems that way,” he replied. “If that’s the case, I have no reason to fear her telling the Elements—or her sister—where I am.” He turned to face the young Alicorn. “Don’t worry,” he spoke, softly. “There’s nothing to fear from us. What are you doing all the way out here? This is a dangerous place.”

“W-well… I was feeling some rather… odd magic out here and… I just wanted to see what it was.” She stammered, trying her best to be brave.

Dio smiled. “That was my red haired associate, Nicko.” He pointed towards the Rune Slayer. Nicko, in response, conjured a small rune in his hands. The magic had the younglings face light up once she felt the magic’s energy radiate from his palm before putting it out with his hand.

“You seem cold,” said Dio. “It must’ve been rough, coming through Everfree by yourself. I’d help if I could young one but unfortunately I cannot cast magic. Nicko on the other hand seems more than willing to show it off.”

“Less of showing it off and more of seeing if it’s what she was sensing.” The Rune Slayer retorted. “You are pretty brave to come out here.” That comment though, made Luna’s head drop down a little. From the looks of it, she had the bravery and willpower, but was too scared to show it. Possibly because of what other ponies might think of her. The circumstances seemed right for the Stand user that was next to Nicko.

“Luna. In her state, she could turn out to be a very powerful Stand user. This may also work out well, since one of the cards of the Tarot is the Moon. It seems to fit perfectly.” Dio brought out the arrow inside his jacket. “Young one, you are troubled. Lost even. You have willpower and strength that anypony would admire. I have the means to help you overcome your fear. If I offered to you the opportunity to overcome it, would you accept?”

She seemed hesitant at first. Possibly because her mind still had doubts. But after a few minutes, the Young Alicorn had an answer. “Y-yes.”

“Very well then.” Dio began to walk towards the young princess. “Nicko, you wanted to see the birth of a Stand user didn’t you. Well tonight is your lucky night.” He moved the arrow into position, placing it underneath Luna’s chest. She seemed surprised. “I promise this won’t hurt. From this moment forward, the fears you feel inside will no longer control you. Instead” – he drove the arrow all the way through her body with it leaving out the other end – “you shall control them.”

Luna screamed as the arrow left her body. Strangely the wound caused by it didn’t leave any blood, healing–leaving a mark about the size of an average coin.

From behind Luna, a separate shape began to take form. It almost resembled the Alicorn, but this time, It looked to be two legged. Almost like The World, but feminine in appearance. It had heavy plate like armor and carried a scythe that took the form of a crescent moon. It’s fur and mane resembled the night sky as it looked at Dio. Shortly before it faded away.

“Interesting.” Nicko replied, putting his hands in his pockets. “That figure reminded me of a latin word that fits the description well. Tantabus. Latin for Nightmare… Tantabus Moon.”

“Indeed,” Dio replied, approvingly. “It is the definite manifestation of all her fears. Including those she may not yet remember.”

“Which means she could use those abilities without having her fears consume her?” Nicko asked, the only answer he got was a nod of Dio’s head. “You, my friend, are a genius.”

“Thank you. I’m proud of my intelligence.” Dio walked besides Luna, helping her up as she gathered her composure. Checking herself, she noticed she only had a small marking from what she was sure would’ve been a greater injury. She looked upwards, seeing Dio’s face. “You did very well Luna. Look behind you and there you shall find culmination of your immense bravery.”

She did turn to look, surprised to see the figure standing behind her. “I-is that a ghost?”

“Sort-of,” replied Dio, kindly. “But surely you aren’t afraid of no ghosts, right? That is Tantabus Moon. A Stand. Its name originates from the Tarot card known as The Moon; representing intuition, dreams, and the unconscious. It shall protect you from all those who mean you harm.”

Nicko shifted himself, standing upright as he looked back at Dio. “Well, it’s been fun. But I think that it’s best if I return to my home. If you need me, just summon me and I’ll come help. Teach her well, Dio.”

“That’s always been my intention. Perhaps the hands of fate will grant me a visit to your version of Equestria next time. It does sound quite, bizarre.”

“You’re correct. But the people you will meet, including my family are just as bizarre.” Nicko told them as a rift opened behind him. “Besides, both of my parents were Displaced as demons and I now have a Niece that freed me from stone.” With that, he stepped through the rift as it began to close behind him. But before he did, Dio asked one last question.

“You said that you’re parents were sent to their Equestria. Did they or maybe anyone in your extended family happen to buy anything from a strange looking merchant at something like, a convention perhaps?”

“My brother and I got here by getting something from a store. My parents however, got here on the evening of a Masquerade.” Nicko told him briefly.

“I see. I asked because I was looking for him. That merchant ruined my previous life by sending me here. Simply speaking, I wish to repay him in kind.”

“Not all of them are seen as bad. Mine brought me to my world for a reason—” Before Nicko could fully say what that reason was, the rift in the void zipped shut, leaving Dio and Luna on their own inside the castle.

Ponyville

When Nicko returned back to his new home, he was surprised to find just Eris and Moondancer waiting for him. After asking about what happened, Eris told him that Caliburn needed to see Artemis and his parents while Anson & Pinkie were helping out around Sugarcube corner. Leaving only Eris and Moondancer to wait for his return. “Well, I’m glad you two stayed around to wait for me.”

“Yeah, but with that said, the two of us felt something earlier today that didn’t feel… right.” Eris told him. “It was the same presence of that hooded fellow at the Academy, but he was down south in Appleloosa.”

“Appleloosa?” Nicko asked. He knew the place as a desert town that his brother first woke up in, but had never been there personally. “What do you think he might be doing there?”

“Beats me.” The Draconequus shrugged. “But I’m getting a bad feeling that it might be something important.”

Unknown Location

The cold winds blew along the east coast of Baltimare as the ponies down below in the city celebrated the holiday of Hearth’s Warming. However, one figure on top of the buildings was looking out towards the ocean as he looked at an object in his hands. It looked like a piece of molten earth as it glowed orange in the figures hands. Arma sighed, looking above him to the skies and in front of him to the waves.

He was promised that he would be reunited with his sister by the Demon King, Ran. All he need to do was bring the three keys of tartarus that were used to seal him away. The Key of Land, The Key of Sea and The Key of Sky. He deeply sighed before picking up his cannon and preparing to move.

“One down, two to go.”

As the Deadly chaser left, a small crimson puddle was left behind from where he had set down his cannon a few moments ago.

End Log 18

Log 19- Souls and Swords

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Souls and Swords

Ponyville (Nicko)

It was the day after meeting Dio and right now, Nicko had spent almost the whole night trying to help Moondancer begin to understand the newfound magic she was capable of. Eris was helping watch her during the night and also explain to the unicorn the same fundamentals of training that Ryu did when the Rune Slayer first met him. This, to the Rune Slayer, allowed for the opportunity to get him some much needed sleep while they were talking, practicing and learning about magic.

However, when he woke up, he was greeted by a whole different scenario. His eyes were readjusting when he seemed to notice that Faith, his niece, was sitting in a chair and watching him. “Morning Sleepyhead.” The Rune Slayer himself was confused. He was sure to have locked the door, so how come Faith was in here with him.

“H-how-?”

“I had Moby and Remy slip through the keyhole and unlock the door from the other side.” Faith replied, getting up from off the floor as she walked over. “So… what do you want to do today, Uncle Nicko?”

“I-i’m not sure Faith… I was trying to help Moondancer with her Magic but-.”

“She and Eris are asleep on the living room floor.” Faith replied, pointing outside the door to see that the two of them were practically snuggling with one another. Oh goddess, that is TOO CUTE!! IT’S WEAPONIZED CUTENESS!! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! After Nicko got himself back to his senses (by mentally punching himself in the throat), he redirected his attention back to his niece as he looked at her.

“Where’s-?”

“Uncle Leo and Dad had to go help some Caliburn guy back in Baltimare while Grandma and Grandpa were going out shopping with Jane, Amy and Molly.”

Nicko sighed a little, looking at Faith with a simple grin. “Why do I get the feeling that they might be raiding the store like it’s an after thanksgiving black friday sale?”

“Umm… end of the year sale?” She faintly spoke. The sudden realization of this had Nicko snap back to reality and soon realize what she was talking about. Nodding his head a little, he agreed with what the Code: Nemesis had told him, unaware that she had gotten out the box of tokens that was on his shelf and dumped everything out onto the floor.

“What the-? Hey! What’s the big idea?” Nicko asked her as she began to go through the pile of tokens, organizing them into two separate stacks.

“I was thinking that maybe we could organize these. It seems to be a little disorganized since you can’t tell what tokens you have used before and which ones you haven't.” She explained, moments before having to set everything aside in a dramatic rush when she felt a strange pressure all around her. “Uhh… Uncle?”

“Yes Faith?” He asked, noticing the change in his niece's voice as she looked back at him with a look of concern on her face.

“Is it just me or does it feel like the air in the room is trying to choke you?” She asked. Now realizing it, the weight of the room did feel like it was trying to crush them. Not only that, but an unknown force was trying to pull them out of the room. It only had the Rune Slayer realize one thing. They were being summoned. By who though? That was something else. Before he could say anything, Faith herself felt herself slip away at the same time he did. Disappearing with the rest of the room and leaving it completely empty.

Realm of the Living

Ichigo was about to head into Applejacks home when a small portal of some kind with some kind of void or space behind it opened next to his head.

"What the fu... OW!" Ichigo yelped as a stone comes out and hit him in the face.

“What’s that?” Applejack asked him while trying to not laugh.

The man rubbed his face and picked up the stone. “Dunno. Looks like a stone to me.” He replied sarcastically. The Shinigami rolled the stone around in his hand and looked at the rune pattern on it. ‘Huh. Kinda looks like a fancy three.’ He thought to himself.

Suddenly, a voice began to speak inside his head.

I am Nicko. The Rune Slayer with a kind heart. The power that's in my grasp and that you control will become the power that the darkness will fear. May there be light on the roads that you travel.

“Jesus Christ!” The Soul Reaper yelled and dropped the stone.

Applejack looked surprised by his sudden outburst. “Ichigo!? What in tarnation ya yell like that fer? Ya tryin’ ta give me a heart attack!?” She scolded him.

Ichigo smiled sheepishly at the apple mare. “Sorry about that. I heard a voice in my head speaking to me… And no. It wasn’t Zangetsu or Bob.” He told her.

The man picked up the stone again and looked it over. ‘What the hell is this thing?’ He Thought.

‘I can feel a presence coming from the stone’ Zangetsu told Ichigo.

The man dropped the stone again with surprise. “Applejack. Can you stomp on it? Zangetsu says there’s a presence in it. Maybe if we break it, it’ll be free?” He asked her.

“Yer sure we should be doin’ that? What if it’s a Demon… Ah mean Hollow inside it?” The mare asked him.

The young Death God drew his Zanpakuto. “Well then. I’ll just slay it if it is.” He replied.

Applejack still looked unsure. “Well… Alright. But if somethin’ goes wrong, it’s yer fault!” She said as she reared up and slammed her hoof down on it. That single slam caused a powerful burst of magic to erupt from it, tearing open a hole in the void as something slammed into a nearby tree. When the smoke cleared, the Soul Reaper and Farmer were surprised by what had arrived in their world.

“Great… seconds after being brought here, I had to slam my head into a tree…”

“Land sakes! Mah tree!” Applejack shouted out seeing the damage done to her apple tree.

“Forget the tree AJ!” The Shinigami told her. He then turns to the new arrival. “Oi! Who are you!?” He demanded.

The figure looked up, noticing who was calling him as the smoke cleared up. He had red hair with three bangs. Two at the sides and one ponytail in the back. He was wearing a Black half jacket and thick cargo pants with belt like straps around his hands and a golden disk at his waist. One with the same symbol that Ichigo found earlier on the stone.

“I could ask you the same thing.” He replied, brushing the dust off of his clothes. “But if you want to know my name, it’s Nicko.”

The Soul Reaper and Farmer watch the young man with caution. “So ya ain’t a Hollow?” Applejack asked him.

Nicko himself tilted his head at that. “Hollow? Oh no, I’m not one of… those.” He soon noticed the stone by Applejack’s hoof and sighed a little. “Well now, it looks like you found my summoning token.” The Rune Slayer said, pointing at the stone at Applejack’s hoof.

“Summonin’ token? This little pebble?” She asked and kicked the stone toward The Soul Reaper.

Ichigo picked it back up and frowned. “What’s a summoning token?” He asks Nicko. The Rune Slayer sighed for a minute, looking back at the Soul Reaper for a second.

“Oh boy… looks like I have some explaining to do…” He muttered, looking back at Ichigo. “Ichigo right?… I’m going to take a wild guess here that you were brought here after some creepy merchant dealer sold you something?”

The Shinigami’s eyes widen at the information. “What do you know about the Merchant?” He asked.

“Not much… But a brief news flash to you… You’re not the only person that had that happen to them.” He explained. “You’re looking at living proof right here.”

‘What? Orihime and I aren’t the only ones sent here?’ Ichigo thought to himself. “I wasn’t the only one sent here. A girl dressed as Orihime was also sent here after me. But I arrived over a thousand years ago, she just popped up yesterday.” The orange haired man replied.

“Interesting… Now, you might be wondering how the summoning token that I was talking about relates to this? Well, that’s the thing. Those who ended up in the situation we’re in are called Displaced. Short for Dimensionally Misplaced. Each one has a token where they can either use it to summon someone from another realm or have it be used to bring them to that person. I know this personally because my brother, niece, and a couple of friends are also Displaced and my niece probably came here with me, but is somewhere else.” The Rune Slayer soon finished speaking, looking back at the two of them. “Does that help?”

Ichigo just stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “Wait wait wait. Hold up. Another realm? You’re not from here?” The Soul Reaper asked skeptically.

“Yeah. To put it in basic terms, Multiverse theory.” Nicko explained. “Where I’m from, Celestia has a brother instead of a sister.”

Applejack just looked confused from the explanation. “What in Tartarus is he talkin’ about?” She asked.

The Soul Reaper just waved her off. “I know what he’s talking about. So… What are you going to do now that you’re here?” He asked the boy with narrowed eyes.

Applejack then tilted her head toward Ichigo. “I know yer tall and so is Orihime… But why is this Human so short?” She asked the Shinigami. However, that did not go well with the Rune Slayer that overheard that.

“What… Did you just call me?” He growled, anger radiating in his tone as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

Applejacks eyes widened at the sudden change of his tone. “What? I just asked why yer just smaller then Ichigo? Are you a foal compared to him or somethin’?” She asked confused. All that did was have Nicko stare them down like an angry lion.

“I’m freaking twenty five years old… Never… CALL ME… LITTLE! Ebalon!!” He said, using his magic to summon one of his swords to his side, startling the two of them.

“Whoa nelly! Where did that come from!” Applejack cried in alarm.

Ichigo griped his Zanpakuto. “Hey. Calm down buddy. She didn’t mean it.” He said and turned to Applejack. “Right?” He asked her.

“What? Ah just asked an honest question!” She replied. Unaware that Nicko used his magic to detonate two runes at the soles of his feet to accelerate forward and have his blade clash with Ichigo’s.

The Soul Reaper used both hands to hold his sword up and block the enraged Rune Slayers attack. “Bloody hell! You need to calm the f**k down!” He said and pushed back as hard as he could. To the Shinigami’s surprise though, Nicko used a free hand to conjure a rune in between where Ichigo’s face was and his blade was.

SPLASH EXPLOSION!

The Rune detonated in Ichigo’s face, throwing him backwards a few yards as Nicko used the force of the explosion to repel himself backward onto a tree branch before dropping down.

Ichigo clutched his face with his left hand. “That little motherfu… You’re going to regret that pipsqueak!” He yelled at the Rune Slayer and with his left hand still over his face, he pulled it down and formed his hollow mask. “Let's see how you handle this!” He shouted in a distorted tone and rushed the Slayer with great speed. Nicko himself personally grinned, moving backwards as his opponent moved forward. But at one point, his attacker slowed down. The Rune Slayer himself just pointed his finger down at the ground.

To the Ice Rune trap that he laid for him. This rune was combined with powerful Ice magic to either freeze an opponent in place or slow them down. In his case, it was for Nicko to get some breathing room. The only thing that he did not take into account though… was the farmer joining the fight.

“Shake the earth! Furue!” Applejack yelled ten meters in the air. Her Zanpakuto changed into her heavy brown metal boots. She then collided with the Slayer, knocking him away.

While in flight, Nicko flipped around, feet colliding with the trunk of the tree as he used it to soften the blow against him. “Well… That happened. Guess I don’t need to go easy on you two anymore.” He smirked, wiping the small amount of blood from the corner of his mouth off of his face. “Time to raise the stakes.”

“Easy? Don’t make me laugh. A scrawny little fella like you is holdin’ back?” Applejack taunted him.

“Dammit AJ…” The Soul Reaper muttered with a facepalm.

“Yes I am… Let me make things interesting then,” He replied, surprising the two of them when he actually dismissed the first sword that he had. Only to say another name. “Rovaniik.” This blade was a lot different. Around the same length as Tensa Zangetsu in Bankai form, but wider. However, it wasn’t what was on the outside that would cause someone to worry.

‘Ichigo. Be careful. That sword has a soul in it. It’s not just an ordinary blade. Stay on guard.’ Zangetsu told the Shinigami.

‘What? Is it some kind of Zanpakuto?’ Ichigo asked.

‘No. It is not.’ Replied Zangetsu.

‘Oh stop worrying about it and kick his ass already!’ Bob told the Reaper.

“So…” The Shinigami started. “What’s so special about that sword?” He asked Nicko.

“Let’s just say that the blade has the power of another Displaced’s token in it. A friend known as the Earth-Warden. But maybe it’ll be more ideal…” Nicko spoke, channeling his magic into the blade. “... If I show you!!” Without warning, when Nicko charged and swung his sword, a fissure in the earth was caused, almost cracking the planet’s crust because of the sheer force of the blow. It also caused Spikes of stone to be uprooted from the ground below Ichigo’s feet and Applejack’s hooves.

Applejack kicked off the stone spike under her, barely avoiding being impaled. “MAH FARM!” The mare screamed out seeing the large scar now in her land.

The Soul Reaper took to the air to avoid being hit and stood in mid air looking down at the damage. “Bloody hell… Hey! Watch where you swing that thing! There’s children in that house dammit!” He yelled at the angry Rune Slayer.

“I never hit the barn.” He shot back. “You just thought so. Look.” When they turned around, the two could see a transparent dome around the building. “And with that… That could only mean one thing…”

Ichigo growled under his breath and looked back at the Slayer. “That’s it. This is getting out of hand.” He muttered and got into a stance with his sword pointed forward.

“BAN…” Before the Shinigami could say anything, a small but powerful beam of light hit Ichigo in the forehead, shattering his hollow mask and throwing him backwards into a nearby tree with him soon hanging by a tree branch. When the Rune Slayer turned around, he smiled a little as he waved his hand at a girl in the distance.

“Uncle Nicko, what the heck is going on here!?” Nicko sighed, dismissing his sword, looking at a girl with white hair and a few metallic spears right behind her. “Who’s the guy in the pajamas? … Did one of them call you little?”

“What was your first clue?”

“You were using only thirty percent of your total magic, yet you decided to use the blade that had Deathwing’s token infused in it. Plus, dad always said that you get angry when you’re referred to by your height.” The Code Nemesis replied. Looking back over, she could see the earth ponie’s eyes twitch a little and the Shinigami look at her with a mix of confusion and anger.

“Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that he was throwing this huge hissyfit because he has a height complex!” The Reaper yelled, causing him to fall from the branch. “OUCH MOTHER FU….ARGH!” He shouted after hitting his head on the ground.

“Ichigo!” Orihime said and ran over to him.

“There isn’t a need for him to be inspected for injury,” An unknown voice spoke, causing her to stop. “It’s just a bump on the head.” For a moment, everyone was looking around for who was speaking, until Faith herself deeply sighed.

“Moby, you know it’s rude to speak like that without showing yourself.” Seconds after she said that, the two earrings she wore soon glowed, transforming into two Nasod Drones that were floating by her side.

“My apologies, Miss Faith.” The Drone replied, looking back at everyone.

“By Celestia! What are those things?” Applejack asked startled.

“We are Nasod Drones and are in service to Lady Faith. Mechanical lifeforms with our own conscience. We are her guides as well as her guardians. Our will is her’s and her will is ours.” The second drone spoke. “He is Moby and I am Remy.”

“Oh…” The farm mare replied, then looked at Nicko with a glare. “As for you Mister. How do ya expect to repair the damage to mah farm! Ah doubt even twilight could magic this hole closed!” She yelled at him with anger in her tone. Nicko sighed, taking a few shards of emerald color in his hand and forming a rune with his magic at the damaged areas. Soon, the Rune glowed and turned into magic as it slowly restored any damage that was there.

“Restoration Runes. I combine a normal rune with a few Nature and Light El Shards to heal any damage that might have been caused.” He explained. “Also, to what Ichigo was saying… Try having yourself be overlooked for all the possible talents you have because of your height… Once that has happened, you’ll know exactly how I feel.” He soon looked at Orihime, putting his hands in his pockets. “So… How exactly did you find my niece?”

Orihime turned from examining Ichigo to the Rune Slayer. “Oh. I was having tea with Fluttershy when this tiny hole opened up and this cute little hairpin thing came out. I then tried putting it on, and then she popped out of a bigger hole! It was very confusing… Then we all had some tea together!” The orange haired girl replied with a smile.

“Well, that explains how you and I got summoned to two different places.” Faith replied, shrugging her shoulders. “Is Mr. Pajamas alright?”

Ichigo grumbles as he stood back up. “I’m fine. Been through worse.” He replied. ‘that zap I got back in the Soul Society hurt a lot more.’ He thought to himself.

‘You’re just as much of a pansy as the Princesses are.’ Bob told him.

‘I’m not in the mood for your lip right now Bob.’ The Reaper replied bitterly.

“So now that we’ve calmed down.” He said glancing at the Slayer. “What happens now?” He asked the two of them as he sat down.

“Maybe we should get the chance to talk a little. Orihime and I were just about to talk about how I got Displaced until I felt my Uncle’s magic rise-.”

Applejack looked surprised. “Wait? Uncle? Ya look older than he does. How is he yer Uncle?” She asked the girl and sat beside Ichigo.

“Well, when my father was raising me, my uncle was in stone for a short amount of time. Seven years in our equestria is twenty one years back home.” Faith explained, having Moby and Remy verify her story.

“In addition, I wasn’t turned to stone like some people being seen as villains. Some insane Esper used his weapons to rebound a blast from the elements of harmony that was going towards my brother Anson. Instead, I took the hit for him so he could keep on fighting.” The Rune Slayer added on. “I’m twenty five and my brother is almost forty. Ironically, we used to be twins. How I got out of stone though was a little more… interesting.”

Ichigo crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Let’s hear it then. How’d you get out?” He asked. Orihime and Applejack also listening with interest.

“Faith. She and a friend got both myself and my partner out because only those of the same bloodline could break them free. Faith got me out and Chaotic, a friend of hers, got Eris out of there as well.” The Rune Slayer added on.

“I see. I had to break out of my own stone prison myself.” Ichigo told them. “Orihime is just lucky she only just arrived. She was spared that horror. At least I wasn’t alone for mine.” He said with a shudder.

“We… well… we aren’t exactly the only one’s in our world.” Faith replied. “There’s dad, Uncle Nicko, Uncle Leo, Grandma and Grandpa along with our family friends Amy, Molly, Jane, Yuri and Jade. So… Yeah… Not to mention that my grandparents are a pair of demons, Yuri and Jade are Fox ladies, Uncle Leo has a mechanical arm and Amy wields blood magic and basically causes havoc wherever she goes.” All Nicko did was just looked at her, surprised. He honestly did not expect Faith to remember every single one of them.

The Soul Reaper sighed sadly. “At least you can remember them. Orihime and I can’t remember our friends and family before the Convention that brought us here. Or much of anything really.” He replied.

“Actually… All the family members that Lady Faith mentioned happened to arrive on similar circumstances.” Moby corrected. “Just at different points in time. For one thing, Nicko’s parents were the guardians of Celestia and Artemis.”

“Hold up.” Applejack said. “Ya said yer Grandparents were Demons? Did they come from here? Wait… Does that make ya part Demon as well?” She asked the two Humans.

“Not quite.” Remy interjected. “They were Displaced as Demons. Luke, Nicko’s father, was a Royal Guard and Ciela, Nicko’s mother, was a Noblesses. Before they were stripped of their old powers and turned to stone, they raised Celestia and her brother Artemis. A thousand years later, at the time Nicko and his brother Anson had finally arrived in our world, the two of them were set free. Despite their demonic appearance and abilities, they use their abilities for good purposes… One other thing to note is that a spell was casted on Ciela to where she is stuck in the body of a child.” The Nasod explained, pulling up a picture of them before and after the change. “Does that answer your question, Miss Applejack?”

“Errr. That sounds mighty… Awkward…” She replied.

“Not quite when her gauntlets can grow twice her size,” The Rune Slayer deadpanned. “Trust me, I know firsthand. She chased Diamond Tiara all around Canterlot after she had the guts to insult her. And I had to fight against her once.”

“Ichigo!” A voice from above called out. The group look up to see The Princesses both glide down and land behind the Soul Reaper. “Are thou alright? We felt thy magic rise. Did thou fight a Hollow?” Luna asked him, then looked at the two new Humans. “And who are they?” She asked confused. Celestia just narrowed her eyes at the two newcomers.

“I’m Nicko. She’s my niece, Faith.” The Rune Slayer pointed out.

“And the reason for the fight was because one of these two decided to comment about my uncles height… which is quite a sensitive subject to him.” Faith finished for the Rune Slayer, having Nicko look back at her. “While that was going on, I was trying to have some tea with Orihime and Fluttershy until my Uncle’s magic rose.”

“So he has the temper of a foal?” Luna asked with a raised brow. “One’s height should not let thee lose thy temper.” Luna told him.

“One… I’m twenty five. Two, try having yourself overlooked for your height instead of your skills and you would understand. Three, I’m not a foal for Land’s sake.” Nicko replied, irritation dripping from his words as he spoke. “Ironically, this isn’t the only time that this has happened. The other time was when I first met my teacher.”

Luna smiled at the chance for some playful banter. “One. We are over a millennia old. Compared to us, thou are a foal. Two, We understand the feeling of being overlooked…” She said with a hint of sadness. “And three… Yes thou are.” She said, her smile returned.

“I was taught by an elder dragon and the magic I know is rare to the point that only one pony could master it.” the Rune Slayer explained, standing up and conjuring another rune with all of his magic pooled into it, the sheer pressure of it causing the Princesses manes to be blown backwards. When he dismissed the spell, Nicko said three words. “Starswirl the Bearded.”

“Starswirl the Bearded!? He never knew such magic!” Celestia said with alarm.

“In your world, yes. In mine, he was the only other pony besides my student that could master it. However, he died before being able to complete his research.” Nicko explained, noticing Faith nod her head to verify his story. “Plus, things are kind of different where I’m from.”

Luna raises an eyebrow at the Slayer. “How different?” She asked him.

“For one thing, you are a prince instead of a princess. Yes… you are a Stallion back where I’m from.” The Rune Slayer said. “Also, Celestia is married.”

Celestia lost her glare for a surprised expression and a light blush. “I’m what?” She asked. Luna just stood there stunned with a twitching eye.

“Uncle, I think you forgot to mentioned that we’re not from this world.” Faith pointed out. “Those circumstances only occur back where we are from.” Turning around to Celestia, she then sighed a little before speaking again. “And Yes, you’re married back in our world.”

Celestia narrowed her gaze again.“To whom might I ask…”

“Discord. Don’t worry though, by then he’s… changed.” Faith spoke again, trying to not have this Celestia freak out on her by the answer. However, despite her best intentions… the opposite happened. “Why does it feel like I did something wrong?”

Celestia looked like she was about to throw up at the thought alone. “Erp. You must be joking! Discord is a cruel and vicious being. He tried to turn the whole world into a… I don’t even want to think about it…” She replied looking a bit green. It was around then that the Rune Slayer felt a small tingle in magic behind him as he stood up for a minute and turned around.

“Well, you might want to believe it. Eris is stopping by… and in our world, she’s one of your kids.” Nicko soon waved his hands a little as he opened a small tear in the void for the Female Draconequus to pop on through.

“Nicky, I was wondering where you and Faithy were…” She said, noticing the Shinigami. “Who’s Mr. Pajamas?”

Ichigo frowned at the new creature. “Hey! These are called a Shihakushō. It’s standard for Soul Reapers!.. And what’s your problem? You look like you can’t decide what you want to be…” He replied.

“May I remind you that I’m a Draconequus… Something tells me that you we’re getting along with my dear Nicky earlier.” She smiled, floating over to where Nicko was before going behind Ichigo and ruffling up his hair with her lion paw. “Please do me a favor and keep my partner in one piece.”

“OW! Watch it! I’m still sore there…” The Soul Reaper said with frown.

“Oooh. Someone seems to be a bit sensitive.” She chuckled.

“Eris… Let’s not go overboard here.” The Rune Slayer advised. “I already had to talk to this Celestia about your father and she looks like she’s sick to her stomach.”

“I have a spare bag if she needs it.” The Chaos spirit replied, snapping her eagle talon and having a doggy bag appear over by the sun princess.

Luna looked from the Draconequus to Celestia. “Sister… She resembles Discord… But she has no mask…” The night princess said.

“Mask? What, is there a masquerade that nopony cared to inform me of?” Eris replied, a little confused by what Luna meant.

Ichigo grinned at a chance to get back at her from agitating his headache. “I think she means like this.” He said and held his left hand over his face. Black reishi gathered in his palm and he pulled his hand down, forming his Hollow mask. He then gave a light breath which was then distorted. Eris soon paid attention to Ichigo for a brief moment, but then looked back at Nicko. “I’m not even going to ask about what exactly have you been through. Remind me to look back through your memories later so I can be caught up to speed, dear.”

“Noted.” Nicko replied, nodding his head and looking back at Luna. “Eris isn’t a demon like you would think. She’s just a spirit, conjured by my Discord because he didn’t want himself to feel alone when he was stuck in stone. Eris is Discords daughter… and one other thing too… My Fiance’.”

Celestia just blinked and shook her head. “I think I’ve heard enough. I’m going back to canterlot and wiping my own memory of this talk…” She said and starts flying off.

“Aww, we haven’t gotten to the part about how we are from another Equestria… What a buzzkill.” Eris groaned in disappointment.

Luna sighed and walked away a few steps. “We shall also head back to Canterlot… Ichigo. Please keep an eye on our… Visitors.” She said and flew after Celestia.

Nicko himself breathed deeply, using the moment to catch Ichigo and Orihime up to speed on a lot of things, including information about Eris and how she had been helping him since he was first Displaced. After a little while though, Eris decided to reside inside the Rune Slayer’s mind as she dissolved into his body and left the five of them in order to talk.

“One thing though… Let’s not tell your Twilight about any of this. She might flip out or crash because of the amount of information we’ve said… and the fact that she might go all fangirl on me with the part on Starswirl the Bearded.” Nicko sighed, looking back at the Shinigami and his companion.

The Soul Reaper chuckled. “No problem there. She’s preoccupied trying to figure out how she and the others became Soul Reapers themselves and how their Zanpakutos work.” He told him.

“Trying to take the logical approach? Expected… But with finding out the other part… Something tells me that it would take time to figure it out… Which reminds me… who has figured them out? I noticed Applejack did when she kicked me, but who else besides that?”

“Only Applejack and Luna have spoken to their Zanpakutos so far. I helped Luna overcome her fear, and Applejack did it to protect her sister. Though Pinkie has as well, but I don’t know how she did it.” The Soul Reaper replied.

“Well, she’s Pinkie Pie. It’s to be expected.” Faith replied.

The Shinigami shook his head lightly. “Don’t remind me. I can’t even sense her reiatsu... And she knows Shunpo as well.” Ichigo told her.

“Hmm… I’m going to take a guess and say that the way they find out their weapons true potential is that when they overcome a huge personal challenge or something that they care for is put in harm's way and they would do anything they can to protect them.” Nicko guessed. “That’s what I say based on what you told me. Hell, I wouldn’t know because I have three swords, but can’t use all of them at once.”

The Reaper nodded. “Possibly. But I think Pinkie just invited hers to a party or just said ‘Hello, be my friend’ or something like that. But each Zanpakuto has their own personality, likes, and dislikes.” He said. “For instance. I know of a Shinigami named Kenpachi. He’s so battle hungry that he treats his Zanpakuto as a tool, not his partner. Thus, the sword won’t speak to him… By the way, you mentioned three blades. I’ve only seen you use two so far.”

“The third I only use partially, but there’s a reason why.” Nicko replied, using his magic to summon Void Edge. “It’s infused with the power of the void and can be used to cut open tears in the void. I only use it on certain occasions.”

“And what’s in this void?” Orihime finally spoke up.

“The void is used to travel between worlds, but is also used to cast your summoning token out into the world as well.” The Rune Slayer explained.

“Speaking of Tokens. Do I have to make one?” Ichigo asked the Slayer.

“You can… But there isn’t a need to rush yourself. Unless of course you have an item that could work well as a token for you.” Faith replied this time. Being sincere with her words so it didn’t like she was forcing the Soul Reaper to make a decision on the spot.

“Hmmm. If I did make one. Would I be forced to the one who summoned me like you were? Or can I set up some kind of rule?” The Reaper asked.

“Some call upon the Displaced that they try to summon. For example, with my teacher, I have to ask for permission to be summoned into his world. It just depends on the people you meet.” The Rune Slayer replied. “Trust me… We’ve met our fair share of Displaced and not all the time are some people… nice. A few of them have good intentions, but are real assholes.”

“Huh… Would a phone work well as a token? That way I could talk to the person who has it before making a decision on being summoned myself.” The oranged haired man asked.

Faith nodded, “I think that is a possibility. A Displaced I know named Robin has his token be a book and he can communicate with whoever writes within the pages of the book. It’s worth a shot.”

The Soul Reaper opened the pouch on his waist and pulled out a small flip phone. “This is what I bought at the convention that sent me here. So how do I make tokens from this? And do I keep the original?” He asked the girl.

“First… You need to leave a message or saying for them. Not after the beep though, you’re not calling them. And yes, you do keep the original. When you send your token out into the void, it sends out copies into the multiverse and lets you keep the original.” Faith giggled, looking back at Ichigo.

“So I just say a pledge like you did and what? Focus my reiatsu into it or something?” The Shinigami asked confused.

“That should do the trick.” Nicko replied back, answering his question.

“Alright. Here goes.” The Reaper said and held the phone out. “Hello. I’m Ichigo Kurosaki. And I’m a Soul Reaper. If you’re a good guy looking for a helping hand. Just give me a call and tell me what you need.” He said and focused his reiatsu into the phone. It glowed purple for a second before it settled down. “Okay… Now what?” He asked.

Nicko motioned for him to give the phone to him for a moment as the Shinigami did so. With a single slice from void edge, he tore open a hole in the cosmic void and tossed it in. Ichigo watched as the single item split into more as they disappeared into the void of space. When it was done, Nicko only had two tokens on him. The original one for Ichigo and a spare for him and Faith to keep. As he tossed it back, Nicko smiled a little as he looked back at him and Orihime.

“You two should be able to contact us whenever you need help since you already have our tokens. But we’re going to need to take our leave from here. I got an apprentice to teach and need to make sure Faith comes back safely or else my brother will freak out. He’s… overprotective at times.” The Rune Slayer sighed as he and his niece stepped into another tear that he created with Void Edge. “See you around.”

“Wait! Before you go. Are there any of these Displaced or tokens I need to avoid?” Ichigo asked Nicko.

“That… depends on you. One you might need to watch out for though may be Gremmy.” Nicko said. There were only three words afterwards that Ichigo could hear briefly afterwards. But they were three words that sent a chill down his spine.

“He’s a Quincy.”

As Nicko was returning to his home world, he remembered that he had to get Moondancer up so he could help her with the last of her training that she needed before she could control everything that he had learned so far. The Unicorn was learning at an exceptionally fast pace, but Magic was only half of being a Rune Slayer. The other half was combat. Swordsmanship. Mastery with a blade in one hand and magic in the other. And the only way in order for that to be properly done is if you practiced the art instead of reading it out of a book.

As of now, Nicko was holding onto a training sword. One of two that were lent to him by Caliburn from the town guard barracks. The Rune Slayer had requested these swords because he believed that his apprentice needed to get use to the feel and control of a normal blade in her hands before using the sword he gave her. Right now, she was swinging her sword with one arm from different directions while Nicko just dodged, blocked and parried. They had been practicing for almost an hour as Eris watched them.

The point of the exercise was for Moondancer to try to break through his defenses. She only needed to do so once in order to understand the lessons and was allowed multiple attempts to do so. Right now was attempt number 13. Through the previous twelve attempts, she had studied her teacher’s movements and tried to use her newfound speed to her advantage. However, the second she thought she had an opening, she felt Nicko’s foot against hers as she fell face first into the snow.

“That was impressive, I have to admit.” He replied. “However, the placement of your hooves needs to be firm. Even in these conditions.” The Rune Slayer made an excellent point. The snow at their feet across a hard and frozen surface meant that the ground they stood on was partially slippery. “We should conclude for today, It’s close to sundown-.”

“No, not yet.” Moondancer interjected.

“Moondancer, I know you might not see it, but even though you weren’t able to strike me, that wasn’t the intent of the exercise.”

The Unicorn blinked, staring dumbfounded at Nicko for a second. “It wasn’t?”

“No. The intent of the exercise was for me to see two things.” The Rune Slayer explained. “The first was whether or not you can combine swordplay and sorcery into your combat style. The second part of it was to see your stamina. One might have strength and power, but if they can’t last long in battle then they would be defeated quickly. In both categories, you passed.”

“B-but that wasn’t what you told me to-.”

“When in combat, your opponent is not going to tell you how to beat them.” Eris pointed out, catching both of their attention. “Ryu taught Nicko that a long time ago and it’s the same thing he’s teaching you now. Think of every battle as a challenge and every opponent as a puzzle. If you solve the puzzle and figure out your opponent, then you have a higher chance of winning.”

“That is a good analogy, Eris.” Nicko replied. “Both of you are very good as not only friends, but comrades. You’re like family to me and family members help out each other all the time.” That single moment had a small blush appear on Moondancer’s face, shortly before it faded a little while later. “Let’s go on inside. I hate to be Anson right now. Being stuck in the cold on the other side of the country.”

“Did he ever say why he had to go?”

The Rune Slayer shrugged as he looked back at both his apprentice and his fiance’. “All Faith told me that it was something important and urgent. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s being left in suspense right now.”

Meanwhile...

“Leo, why exactly is Caliburn calling us out here in the first place?” The Infinity Sword asked his friend as they made another turn past the market district. Both Anson Nocte and his once-friend-turned-adopted brother, Leo were asked by a good friend of theirs in the Royal Guard to come out to one of the locations in Equestria that had been all but peaceful. Until something that occurred on Heart’s Warming had the whole town in shock.

“Well, to tell you the truth, it’s the last thing that you would expect in a peaceful world such as this one.” Leo replied.

“What? Some crazy hot shot villain trying to take over the world or some crap like that?”

“Not even close,” Leo groaned, handing a file to him using his mechanical arm. “Read it for yourself.”

“What exactly am I looking at?” Anson asked, looking at the outside of the folder. “Is this some sort of field manual?”

“No… It’s an autopsy.” The Reckless Fist told him. “Somepony was murdered here yesterday. Caliburn needs us to look into this as soon as possible because the suspect of the murder was the white hooded Chaser that Nicko and Faith encountered before. The one they called Arma.”

“What would he be doing out in this neck of the woods anyways?” Anson then asked.

“That… we need to find out as soon as possible. Caliburn is concerned that Arma is planning something and that this is the first of many incidents to come. Also, look at these.” With that, the Reckless fist opened his metal hand, showing a few shell casings with what looked like different color crystals attached. “Do you recognize what these are?”

“Holy sh*t. They’re El Shards.”

“That’s right. He’s found a way to turn the crystals into ammunition. Meaning that he had multiple ways to turn the tide of battle in his favor. The same can go for Spellshards if he finds out about them,” Leo continued as he put the casings back in his pocket. “We got to stop him before he reaches his next location.”

“I agree with you there. Because one thing is for sure,” Anson said to Leo before gripping his blades for a minute. “I’m not letting that hooded freak try and attack Faith. This time, he’s got another thing coming if he thinks he can get away with harming anyone of my family members.”

End Log 19

Log 20- Dinner and a Show (Un-edited)

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Dinner and a show

Ponyville (Two days later)

It had been a couple of days since Nicko had met Ichigo and Orihime and in that timeframe, his life was anything BUT easy. Despite everything sounding so calm outside, The Rune Slayer had to focus a lot of his time into teaching Moondancer how to wield Rune Magic. She had told him that she wanted to be with him the next time he was summoned by a Displaced along with him and Eris so that she could be able to meet new people and possibly learn a thing or two when it came to magic. Of course, being the optimistic person that he was, Nicko told her yes. The only catch though was that he needed to make sure that she could defend herself on her own if they were to be attacked in any way, shape or form.

Today though, Moondancer was finally able to master every spell that the Rune Slayer could teach her as of right now. The two of them, along with Eris, almost had to pull off an all nighter to get everything to work. But the results were a complete success. Moondancer was completely overjoyed and happy by the results that she didn’t even notice Nicko change into his original set of clothes before being encased in stone.

“Well well,” Eris giggled. “Going with the classic’s I see?”

“Well, after wearing my other clothes for the past few days, they smell like sweat and blood. I asked Rarity if she could wash them for me and she happily said yes.”

“I see. Hey, where’s Faith?”

“She went to go talk with Twilight about something that’s been on her mind. Anson is with Pinkie and my parents are helping Caliburn in Canterlot. So right now, we have the house to ourselves.” Nicke smiled. leaning back a little.

“Unless if a Displaced summons us-.”

“Please, don’t try to jinx anything Eris.” Moondancer told her. “I had just only completed learning my newfound powers. I don’t want to be thrown into a situation straight out the gate-.”

It was then though that a booming voice could be heard by all three of them, catching them by surprise. “Hey Nicko, Lance wants you to meet most of his family and join us for dinner. Hope you like hydra steaks!”

Nicko remembered Lance, but for some reason, he couldn’t tell who was talking to him. “Not to be rude, but who is this? I remember Lance, but I don’t remember him mentioning a family last time we met.”

“Oh, I’m the reason he was called away from your meeting. I had just found out I was pregnant with his child and I wanted him to know. I’ll properly introduce myself once we meet.”

Nicko looked back at Moondancer and Eris for a moment before nodding his head. Eris soon faded into his body and the Unicorn soon walked over to him. “Alright. But is it okay if I bring two more guests? I’m having Eris and my student, Moondancer come with me.”

“Sure! I love meeting new beings.”

Another voice chimed in from the other end, “You mean messing with them.”

Moondancer raised an eyebrow upon hearing that last statement. “Who’s that?”

“The short of it is she’s my and Lance’s wife,” the first voice said. “So you want free food or what?”

“Fiancée.” The second voice corrected.

Around then was when Nicko made his decision. “Count us in.” With that, the two of them faded out of the room, leaving no trace behind.

Equestria (Home of the Prophet)

“You had to give away my plan, Seph?” Max said, giving the woman a playful glare. They were seated at the table in the dining room with the foals on one side and Max and Sephiroth on the other. Sol and Mun were on the ends, waiting patiently for the food to be brought out.

“Well I just wanted to give them a fair warning. And it won’t stop you from doing it anyways.” The tall, silver haired woman, clad in a form fitting, black coat, that was open in the front and only held together by two straps across her breasts, shrugged. “Knowing you it wouldn’t even affect the outcome if they knew beforehand.”

Just as they finished speaking, a small tear in the void opened up and two individuals landed in the room. The first, a unicorn with tan fur and a mane that resembled Twilight’s that had a half jacket on and a greatsword on her back, landed just by where Rainbow Dash was at her seat at the table. The second one was a red haired human with a black half jacket, white and black cargo pants, something that resembled belt straps around his hands and a golden disk at his waist. Where he landed though was more unexpected.

Unlike Moondancer, who softly landed next to Max, Nicko was spat out like someone had kicked him out of the room, crashing straight into the silver haired woman that Max was talking to a few moments ago. The kids might have seen it as funny at the time, but to the adults, it was something else entirely. Especially with Eris emerging from Nicko a few minutes later, smacking his face with her lion paw.

“Nicko, we’ve only been engaged for two days and now you're hitting on other women? Really?” The Draconequus groaned.

Sephiroth had her face rather forcefully tilted to the side, but despite everything she wore an unimpressed expression and sighed. “I know I told Murphy he was allowed to mess with me from now on, but I really thought he would be busy with something else for a change.”

“I am. There was a chance you would punch someone across the room and I wanted to see if it was going to happen without my intervention,” A voice said from one of the windows. “Mind if I join?”

It was then that Nicko was snapped back to reality and immediately sprung upward from his position on the floor. “Oh crap! I am really sorry, Miss-.” He turned around, realizing that he was in whatever location that Moondancer, Eris and him were summoned to. As he got up, he offered Seph a hand to help her up. “What’s your name?”

The ‘floored’ woman took his hand and let him help her up. “Name’s Sephiroth.” Looking towards Eris she added, while taking her right glove off, revealing a very beautiful ring on her finger. “And I’m engaged, too. So don’t worry. I won’t take him away from you.” Grinning slightly she added with mischief glinting in her teal eyes. “Although I don’t have full control over my succubus magic, so I’m not promising anything.”

“I’m Nicko. Nice to meet you.” The Rune Slayer introduced himself, turning to Moondancer and Eris. “This is my student Moondancer and my Fiance’ Eris.”

“Daughter of Discord and spirit of chaos.” Eris finished for him. “Don’t mind Nicky, he’s kind of clumsy at times.”

“I doubt he’s clumsy in bed,” Max muttered, just loud enough for the three arrivals to hear. A bit of embarrassment could be seen on Nicko and Eris’ face as they looked at one another.

“Actually… we never… you know… did it.” Nicko sighed. “Plus, I highly doubt this is a conversation to have at dinner no less.”

Max looked at them in thought for a moment before continuing, “I could help with that. All I ask for in payment is that you include me.”

Nicko was quite surprised to hear that at first. “Are you sure? Wouldn’t Lance be upset if-.”

“The three of us have an open relationship,” a new voice echoed as the doors opened. Nicko turned around to notice that Lance himself had entered the room. In the same attire that Nicko had seen him wear the first time they met. He entered the room with one other person who looked to be a Displaced as well, resembling Asura from Asura’s Wrath. “So I’m fine with whatever you guys are going to do. I’m going to have to go back to Maretropolis after dinner, but for the time being, I would like to relax and enjoy some time with friends and family. Ash though went back to Maretropolis to keep an eye on Aurora.”

Sephiroth shrugged when nobody took her bait and sat down at the table again next to Asura. “Actually I would like to state that I’m not really open to the idea to bed with others. But I won’t deny my lovers their fun.”

Lance smirked at that. “Maybe after dinner then. Right now, lets eat.” He soon sat down at the table and the first thing that the three newcomers notice was that a filly Rainbow Dash soon popped into his lap and nuzzled Lance’s clothes with her face.

“Is that… a filly Dashie?” Eris asked. “By my mother, that is so cute!”

Golden decided at that moment to crawl under the table and pop up next to Moondancer once she sat down, poking at the sword strapped to her side as Light pawed at Niko’s ponytail. Nicko smiled, cuddling the young filly a little as Eris took up her seat next to Max.

“I’m guessing your mother is one of the princesses?” Max asked.

“Well, where we’re from, there are only three princesses, but you are right. Discord made me to help keep him company the same year that he married Celestia. Besides that, there’s Cadence and Twilight being Princesses as well-.”

“What about Luna?” Sol asked.

“Who?”

“Once called Nightmare Moon?” Max said, gesturing to Silver Platter to bring their food.

“Actually, in our world, that story is different. You see, Celestia actually has a little brother named Artemis. But when his emotions were beginning to affect him, Celestia casted a spell where the negative emotions could take form in a body of it’s own. She was named Selena and later on, she became feared as Nightmare Moon. Now though, her spirit is part of our friend Amy and boy… she is a crazy one.”

“Wasn’t that the girl you said acted like Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate abridged?” Lance asked the red haired Displaced, helping Rainbow to not play with the silverware that was set on the table.

“Yeah, but worse. Think Twilight giving a speech, then the next moment, blood began to drip from the walls and she pretended to be stuck in it,” Nicko told them, sighing a little as he asked for a glass of water. “Her response? HEY KIDS, Wanna see a dead body!?.”

“Always a good idea to talk about something like this when there are little children present, guys. Not to mention that we are eating right now.” Sephiroth dug into what looked like a whole bison with gusto.

“Yeah. Even though I get cravings for the most bizarre things, talking about blood and dead bodies isn’t doing anything for my appetite,” Max said, taking a bite from her steak.

Nicko sighed, using his utensils to cut the cooked meat that was on his plate. “It doesn’t help that her class is a Crimson Avenger. A warrior that specializes in that kind of magic.” He began to eat his food as well, taking a bite from the meal that was on his plate before chewing in and swallowing. “Not to mention that my ENTIRE family is in my Equestria now. Yeah, they all got Displaced.”

“Well, at least you don’t have anything to go back to on earth now.”

“Right.” The Rune Slayer replied. “It’s ironic because the last Displaced I met thought that my family is… well… bizarre.”

“Oh really?” Lance replied, “Who’s that?”

“Dio Brando.”

“Never heard of the guy. What show or game is he from?” Max asked, pulling Golden away from Moondancer’s blade.

“Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure,” Lance replied. “He controls a spiritual guardian called a Stand and is a villain in the series. His Stand, The World, can momentarily stop time.”

“So? Max over there is the mistress of time. And yes that was intended.” The silver haired woman quipped before continuing to eat.

“He’s also a vampire.” Nicko mentioned. “And from when I was there, he unlocked a stand with Luna, which allowed her to use Nightmare Moon’s powers without even becoming Nightmare Moon.”

Seph stopped and tapped a finger on her chin, looking towards the ceiling in thought. “Somehow I get the impression that it isn’t the norm that Nightmare is actually the original princess of the night and a really nice fighting buddy on top of that.”

“Different people, different circumstances. Hell, I met a lot of Displaced before and after I got stuck in stone… and no, Celestia didn’t imprison me. Some jerk tried to deflect the elements of harmony to hit my brother and I acted as a human shield.” Around now was when Lance stepped in, asking a new question.

“What Displaced have you met?”

“Well, before I was stoned, I met Ryu; a Kaiser who later became my teacher and then my brother and I met Handsome Jack.”

“I met him as well, though I wish it had been under better circumstances,” Max said, giving Golden a bit of mashed potatoes, her voice lowering some in sadness. “A lot happened around then.”

“Same. After that though, I met Bryce; who was Jayce from League of Legends… Deathwing-.”

“Sun told me about him. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to destroy his world at least once.”

“Well, actually he’s just as powerful as the Princesses. Like how Celestia represents the sun, he represents the earth that we walk on.” Nicko retorted. “After him it was Amaterasu and Chibiterasu, Maximillian Pegasus, Amy’s brother Max; who was Gremmy from Bleach, Gon, Orpheus and Thanatos from Persona 3 and Sakuya from Persona 4, Jack Frost and Blood Cleaver, Duncan and… Oh yeah, the guy who Displaced me.”

“Let me guess, The Merchant?” Max sighed and shook her head. “I’m beginning to think I’m the only one who hasn’t been Displaced by him.”

“Oh, hey. How’s he doing? Could never thank him for freeing me. Although he took his payment, so… don’t think if I should.” Sephiroth shrugged and pushed her empty plate away, patting her belly. “Pu~h. I needed that. Barbaroi’s training drains me extremely.”

Max gave her a sly grin. “Heh, more so than Lance and I can. Makes me wonder how good he is.”

The silver haired woman deadpanned at Max. “Neither you nor Lance can actually drain me anymore, you know? Succubi are empowered by sex. You can exhaust me physically, yes, but the mental and magical drain I experience in the training is completely different.” Then she shrugged, again. “Also I’m not standing in your way if you want to test him out. But you should at least wait until you aren’t pregnant.”

“You don’t need to tell me that. With how big his body is, he’ll be bigger than what you grew to.” Max gave her a half-lidded smile.

Sephiroth did a spit take. “Wait! I didn’t imagine that?!”

“Nope~! I rather enjoyed the sensation.”

Struck speechless, the taller woman just stared, a burning blush on her cheeks.

“I still tingle with excitement when I think about it.”

Coughing into her fist, Seph averted her gaze. “Well, I’m glad you- err… enjoyed it. We could do that again sometime, if you want.”

“You could join me in giving Nicko and Eris a demonstration. Maybe show them a bit of how to be a dom?”

The silver haired woman’s demeanor changed instantly, her eyes hardened and her blush died a horrible death. “No.”

“Aw... Okay.” Max looked down in disappointment. “Guess it’ll just be them and me then.” She shot Seph another grin. “But I’ll let you hear everything that happens~.”

Sephiroth crossed her arms in front of her chest and returned the grin with a glare on her own. “Max. I told you that I am not interested in any other partners in bed than Lance and you. I accept your mindset and don’t stand in the way of your fun and you pay me back by threatening to torture me, or even deliberately trying to coax my succubus magic to overwhelm me, so I go back on my own words?”

Max looked back down in shame. “No... I’ll let you sleep peacefully with the foals.”

Sighing, the taller woman relaxed her posture and leaned over to hug Max. “Don’t feel bad, okay? I exaggerated on purpose to make a point. You would never do such things and I know it. Just… please try to accept my decision, like I have yours.”

Max nodded and hugged her back, giving her a deep kiss which was instantly reciprocated.

However, they soon realized that they weren’t alone. “Um… as I was saying?”

Max jolted and broke the kiss, coughing into her fist before saying, “Anyways, I was Displaced by a moogle named Nono instead of the Merchant.”

Nicko smirked a little. “A moogle? I thought Seph would be displaced by a Moogle given the Final Fantasy look.” Soon though, Nicko used his magic to conjure an image in the palm of his hand. “This here is Glave. He’s the one who Displaced me. Keeper of the Realm of Henir, the god of Space and Time in my world.”

Seph had regained her composure and examined the image. “Nah, that’s not the Merchant.”

“Definitely not. He looks kinda dorky with only one eye, though,” Max said, letting Golden have the rest of her plate.

“Actually not, for Glave, it’s a different story. He was once human, but was punished for delving into the secrets of the creator and for that, he can no longer feel human emotion and lost his right eye.” Nicko explained. “His eye was actually taken by the void.”

“Heh, knew the Void was dangerous.”

“Yes, but he also has powerful friends.” The Rune Slayer replied as he finished his plate. “Because of him as well, I have more confidence in teaching my student Moondancer and wanting to propose to Eris.” Eris just chuckled at Nicko’s comments. Moondancer though, didn’t say anything. Something looked to be on her mind, but she personally did not want to say anything. Instead, she just got up, excused herself, and left the room. She almost looked to be upset over something, but tried to withhold her emotions.

Max stood to follow her, giving Golden to Sephiroth. When Max found her, she was at a balcony overlooking Canterlot, trying to get herself together. In fact, she was caught off guard when Max approached her from behind. “M-max? What are you doing out here-?”

“You looked like you needed someone to talk to. I won’t force you, but I will enjoy your company until you want to go back.”

“... Max… How do you tell somepony that you love them, but they’re with someone else?” She asked. “Sometimes… It’s hard for me to say my feelings. Yet, watching you with Sephiroth and Lance, you seem to know how to handle it.”

Max walked over to the railing and leaned on it, looking out over the city. “The reason it’s easy is because I take the risk head on. There’s more ways of telling your feelings than just words alone.” She looked at the unicorn with a smile. “I was afraid that they would reject me the first time, but I powered through that fear because I didn’t want to live as I had on Earth. I didn’t want to live regretting not asking.”

“Well… You see… There’s somepony I’ve met before that I have a crush on… But I’m afraid to tell them.”

“Then just march right up to them and kiss them. It’s the easiest way to show them you have feelings for them.”

“Yeah, but that’s the thing… This person… is the same one I came here with. Goddess, I sound perverted when saying this.” Moondancer sighed. “I have a crush on Nicko. When I met him and Eris for the first time and he accepted me as his student, he gave my life purpose. I wanted to ask him on a date or something, but the night I had the courage to do so was the same night that he proposed to Eris. What should I do though?”

“You could really do anything. Talk with them about how you feel, talk with Eris separately, maybe even just go over and give them both a kiss.”

“I know… There’s just one other thing that makes it hard…” Moondancer told her, trying to stretch out her back legs as far as possible. “And it was with what you mentioned earlier… about the bedroom.” She looked down again before looking back at Max. “I’ve just… entered my cycle.”

“Well that isn’t a problem, know a few spells that can prevent pregnancy.”

“Yeah but…” She sighed, looking back at Max. “Do you know of any mind reading spells. I just think it would be easier if you see it instead of me telling you.”

“How about instead of me entering your mind, I give you a spell to copy and extract those memories?” Max lit her hand and a spherical crystal formed in her palm. Moondancer didn’t know what to say, but soon thanked Max as she cast the spell. Soon, the memories were in there for Max to see.

“These are memories of my… well… fantasies.” She said, handing it to Max, “In them, I wanted to be the one that carried Nicko’s children alongside Eris. I always wished to be able to raise a Colt or Filly that I can call my own.”

Max gained a thoughtful expression, but shook her head and gave it back. “I’m not going to intrude on something like this.”

“No, I insist!” Moondancer told her, pushing it back towards her. “I want you to help me and by seeing them, you can.”

“I can already imagine what you want,” Max said as she rubbed her stomach. “But, these spells do occasionally fail.”

“F-fail?”

“The anti-pregnancy spells. You’re wanting to join in tonight and get pregnant so you can try to join them.”

“W-well, I wanted to ask them first. Before anything. It’s their decision whether or not to include me or not and I think they should take some time to make that decision.” Moondancer told her. “How about this? I can tell them in the room where this will take place. That way, you are there and you can help me explain to them what I told you.”

Max gave her another smile. “I don’t think you’ll have trouble explaining it.” Max lit her hand again and another sphere appeared in her hand. “There we go. You just need to copy this and give them each one.”

“O-okay.” She said, trying to remember what Max taught her before doing so, absorbing it in the process along with the first crystal that Max gave her. “Okay, that’s done… Where’s the room at?” She asked, both crystals in the telekinetic grip of her magic.

“Dunno yet. Have to wait until the foals go to bed.”

“Can I help put them away? Many ha- er I mean hooves make light work.” The Unicorn offered. “Plus, I think the others are waiting for you. Just tell them that I needed to take a breather if they ask where I am.”

Max nodded and turned to walk back inside. “I don’t think Lance and Seph will have trouble getting the foals to sleep.”

“Oh um… okay… Should I just wait in your… bedroom then?” Moondancer asked, squeaking a little in the process.

“No, Lance and Seph would be taking the children there. I’ll give you an illusion of where we are once we get there.” Moondancer nodded her head as she trotted back into the throne room.

Max took her time getting back to the group and managed to find them outside of her rooms. “Going to help the kids get to sleep?” Max asked Lance.

“It’s the least Seph and I could do to help you right now.” Lance told her, Rainbow crawling over his shoulder. “You have fun, okay?”

“Don’t worry, they will.” Max took Nicko’s right arm and Eris’ left, leading them away.

A long while later…

When Nicko woke up again, he found Eris and Moondancer passed out on the nearby mattress alongside Max. Unlike his fiance and the displaced that welcomed them in her home with open arms, he could not sleep. There were many thoughts bouncing through his mind as he slowly got up and put on his jacket, walking outside the room. The Rune Slayer needed to catch his breath… and clear his mind.

“You know, it’s a little rude to just leave women in bed and not at least write a note,” Max’s voice said from behind him.

“I-i’m sorry… I just need some time to think…” Nicko muttered.

“Just telling you for future reference, this was your first time after all.”

“I know…” He sighed. “Things feel like they’ve been moving too fast for me. Only a week ago, my Niece got me out of stone. Now I’m accepting Eris and Moondancer as my wives and I’m going to be a father… I’m not sure if I’m personally ready for what’s coming.”

“No one truly is. I got lucky that Rainbow clung to me because of what happened to her and she’s been a huge help with keeping Golden and Light in line.”

Nicko sighed. Turning around, he looked at Max with a deep sigh. “I don’t mean that… In my world, Glave told me something… There’s a Demon King named Ran that was the original one to drive Sombra mad and Eric crazy. Now, he’s warning me that he might be released and with it, war will come.” He grit his teeth at the last part. “I don’t want to have my son or daughter born into conflict. I want them to live peacefully… Max?” The Rune Slayer turned around to look at her fully as he then said something else. “Can I ask you something?”

“You’re wanting to ask if they could be born here, aren’t you?”

“I wasn’t going to ask that.” The Rune Slayer interjected. “I was going to ask if you and Lance could be their godparents.”

Max chuckled. “I’d love to. Just as long as Lance and I are considered your siblings.”

“You two welcomed me into your family. Now I think it’s time for you to be welcomed to mine.” Nicko smiled, a sigh of relief coming out of him as he hugged Max. “Which reminds me… I might need you to introduce you to them… and like I mentioned previously… they’re rather… unique so to say.”

Max smiled and giggled almost like a schoolgirl. “Isn’t family always? With my family, we have a ghost, a literal succubus, a demigod, several immortals, pokemon, and an Adept.”

“For me, it’s two parents that we’re sent here as demons and served as Celestia and Artemis’ bodyguards before getting stoned, my brother that can summon multiple swords at once, my friend-turned-brother with a mechanical arm, A niece who is a Machine Empress, A Draconequus, a Unicorn…… and Pinkie Pie.”

“Looks like the family just got even more diverse, than.”

“Did I happen to mention that my mother is the size of a 12 year old girl?”

Max shrugged. “Then she’s only partially as weird as me. I got de-aged and had my gender changed.”

“Just another day in the multiverse I guess-.” The Rune Slayer soon felt his token vibrate, turning around and looking back behind him. “Hey, are you one for unexpected company?”

“Depends on the company, really. I’m not going to pretend to like someone that will insult family-.” Just as Max finished saying that, two new individuals fell through a hole that was torn in the void and slid across the hallway floor.

“Those…… are my folks.” Nicko sighed, just as his father Luke was trying to get up off of the floor. The one thing that Max could notice immediately was his pointed ears, gunblades and daggers at his waist. As for Nicko’s mother, Celia was wearing a hood and short pair of clothes, but had huge demonic gauntlets that can grow to twice her size.

“Son, just where… the hell… did you bring us?”

“My universe,” Max said as she stuck out her hand to the elf-like man. “I’m Maxine, current ruler of this Equestria. Everyone just calls me Max, though.” The man took her hand, but the little girl’s attention was at Maxine’s chest.

Poking it a little with her claw. “Please don’t tell me that my son didn’t do anything to harm you now, did he?”

Max’s eyebrows raised as she stared for a moment at the girl before she laughed and shook her head. “No, in fact he was good for a virgin.” All this did though was have Celia’s eyes widen as she now looked at Max with a face of rage.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON, YOU B****!?!” She snarled. To her, Max might have been somepony that had used her son for her own pleasure. But like a lot of people, she was quick to jump the gun.

“I helped him, Eris, and Moondancer start their love lives,” Max said in a calm voice. “I made sure they all knew that it wasn’t more to me than showing a sibling how to properly make love.”

Nicko sighed a little at his parents confusion. “You’re going to have grandkids and Max and her Fiance Lance are going to be their godparents.” The first part of the sentence had the two of them overjoyed. Almost tackling the Rune Slayer and his companion to the floor in the process.

“Don’t leave out Seph, she’s my fiance as well.”

“And Asura.” Came another voice, stepping out from the hallway was none other than Lance, who sighed at seeing Nicko’s mother and Father. “Okay, who’s the Chiliarch and the Dreadlord?”

“Wait, Asura wants to get in on the wedding? I thought he’d be saying that we should hold off a year or two,” Max said after giving Lance a kiss.

“He said that he would think on it, but I didn’t want to leave him out because of it.” The Adept replied. “Nicko? I assume you know these two?”

“Dude… They’re my parents.” Nicko deadpanned. “Max was talking to me and giving me some advice, they wanted to know where I was, so I brought them here so you could meet them.”

“Well, that’s one way of doing it.” He nodded his head, introducing himself. “I’m Lance Walker. Nicko and I met some time ago and my fiancee and I invited him, Eris, and Moondancer here for dinner.”

“I’m Luke Nocte, and this is my wife, Celia.” The Dreadlord introduced himself along with the Chiliarch. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and your Fiancee-.”

The Adept chuckled at that last part. “You’ve only met one of them. I still need to introduce Seph to you two… Maybe once she and Asura are awake.” He then looked at the The Rune Slayer and his two parents before looking back at Max. “I’m just a little curious about something though…”

“Curious?” Luke asked. “About what?”

“What you two are capable of.” Lance replied. “Do you guys fight as a Duo like the actual class in Elsword?” Both of them nodded and he smirked a little, looking back at Nicko.

“No. Not while the foals are sleeping and not in this universe. I don’t want to explain why lightning struck the castle multiple times to my Equestria and why there were shambling corpses roaming the halls,” Max said, shaking her head. “It’s bad enough everyone thinks I’d do anything - even roast an entire continent - just to keep the peace. Don’t want people thinking Equestria’s armies are made up of the undead.”

“Uh… We don’t raise the dead.” Luke pointed out. “Despite being demons, we aren’t Necromancers. We just use demonic magic.”

“Still, don’t want anyone thinking I’ve opened the gates of Tartarus and made a deal with the demons inside.”

“... You bring up a good point.”

“Anyways, It’s way past midday. Why don’t we all go get something to keep us awake?” Max motioned down the hallway.

“Sure-. Hang on, mid day?”

“Yeah, day and night are switched here. Ponies sleep during the day and work during the night because Celestia was the one to get banished instead of Luna.”

Luke and Ciela looked at each other before looking back at Max. “I guess this is a Mid-day snack then?”

“Heh, yeah. Main course was a few hours ago in bed.” Max pointed over her shoulder with her thumb to the room where Eris and Moondancer were still asleep, a grin firmly in place.

“ …… Um… can I ask you something Max?” Celia asked. “About Nicko… How was he?”

“MOM!!” The Rune Slayer shouted, a blush appearing on his face.

Max laughed, almost tripping with how unexpected the question was. “He-he was tired by the time he got to me, but he still followed through.”

“At least he had Stamina,” the Chiliarch mumbled. “And the only reason why I asked was because I haven’t done it at all since we’ve had you and Anson, plus the 1000 years we were in stone-.”

“Mom… TMI…” Nicko sighed. Out of all the things he would want to hear in the world, his parents sex life was not one of them.

Max gave Nicko a glance, an impish smirk on her face as she turned back to Celia. “If you’d like, I could possibly splurge a bit. Help you break that dry spell.”

“Maybe another time. I feel very uncomfortable trying to have fun with a woman that’s expecting a child… speaking of which, how far are you in your pregnancy?” She asked, looking back at Luke before looking back at Max and Lance.

“I’m in my seventh month and- oh!” Max’s hand shot forward and grabbed Celia’s, placing it on her stomach. She soon felt a small kick and the Chiliarch chuckled.

“He’s a kicker I see…”

Max giggled and gained a serene smile as she stroked her stomach. “Started about a day after I came back from a different multiverse. My pregnancy got jolted forward three months because of that trip.”

“Is it a boy?” Luke asked, taking a guess on if it’s a boy or a girl.

“Yes, his name’s going to be Lyall Arthas Walker. I just hope he gets his father’s hair.” Max said, causing Lance to laugh a little and for Nicko to chuckle. The Adept soon looked at Max and then everyone else, asking them a question.

“So… who wants Ice cream?”

“Not me, I just need a triple strength espresso,” Max said as she walked towards the dining room.

“I bet we can arrange that.” Lance replied, looking back at the three Nocte’s. “You guys?”

“Do you have any pie?” Nicko asked, curious to see what his options were. “Otherwise, I’ll just go get some more rest.”

“Suit yourself,” The Adept chuckled, looking back at Max. “I won’t be around long though. Tomorrow I have to get back to work and take the kids temporarily with me before working with my friends on trying to lock up criminals again.” Nicko smirked at the sound of that. At least one thing’s for sure. He didn’t have to handle fatherhood… yet.

However, the Rune Slayer soon had to focus on something else when he reopened the door. Instead of finding an asleep Eris and Moondancer, the young warrior found a white haired man with a pair of floating cubes in his left hand. Sitting in a corner where the light coming in shined on his mask. “Hello Nicko… Sorry for dropping by unannounced, but we need to talk. Now.”

“Glave, what are you doing here?” Nicko asked him, soon jumping to the first thought that came in his mind. “What did you do to Eris and Moondancer?!”

“Easy there, you shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions so quickly.” The Displacer told him. “I just sent them back to your world. They’re asleep in your room, safe and sound. However though, there’s something important we need to-.”

There’s a bright flash and Max appears near the bed saying, “Ah, so you’re the cause for the disturbance. Shoulda known it would be from a Void Dweller.”

“And you are the Displaced of this realm. It was never my intention to disturb anything.” Glave said to Max, looking at both her and Nicko.

Max waves Glave off. “I was just curious to see what had so much power and why Time had skewed a bit.”

“Glave here is the keeper of Time and Space.” Nicko told Max. “Well, in my world at least. He’s the one that watches over Henir’s Domain… and also was about to explain why he showed up and sent both Eris and Moondancer back home.”

Max glances at Nicko before giving Glaive an impish look as she said, “I think you just messed up.” All Nicko did was now look towards Max, a little confused by what she was saying.

“Care to explain Max?” The Rune slayer asked.

“He messed with your lovers without your permission. I know I would never let a Void Dweller do that to Lance or Seph.”

“It wasn’t my intention to mess with them. I returned them back because things are beginning to change,” Glave warned, looking back at Nicko before glaring at Max again. “Which is why I needed Nicko to return back. Is there something I’m missing?”

“Yes. Travel through the Void can affect pregnancies. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nicko’s missing the birth of his children.”

“Yeah… I know of that, however, the only thing that has occurred is that there two month’s in on their pregnancies.” Looking back at Nicko, he soon handed him a few pieces of paper. “I’m sorry that you weren’t able to make it, but I requested these photos from your brother during their doctor’s visit.” Nicko took the images for a second, looking them over for a moment. Once he realized what he was seeing, his eyes widened. He was quite shocked to see what he was looking at. Something that caught Max’s attention rather quickly.

Max smiles and pats Nicko’s shoulder. “Congratulations! You have two sons and a daughter. I just hope you don’t get swamped in diapers.”

“T-thanks…” He said, sighing a little. “Though, I’m a little curious on something… Max, you’ve had a foal before right? How long is it until they’re born?”

“Well, when I went to Doctor Home to check on Lyall, he said that foals take six months to be born from conception. Thoug with your universe, it’s kinda hard to say if it’s true there as well.”

“Eight months.” Glave said bluntly.

“Is that just with Moondancer or is it both of them?” Nicko then asked, wanting to inquire a little more info.

“Both.” Glave replied. “However, that’s not why I’m concerned. What I’m concerned about is something else. Remember when I told you about Ran?”

“Yeah, the demon king that made Sombra go insane? What about him?” He asked.

“From the way things are looking now, he’ll be released in almost half that time or even less.” The Void Dweller told him. “Which means that when he’s out, he’ll be coming for you and your family first.”

“.... Yeah, I can already tell he’ll be dead before he can even touch Moondancer or Eris,” Max quips.

“Not exactly. Despite Nicko’s magic and strength… there is a problem. His Rune Magic is an incomplete form of magic. Not to mention that when Ran is free, his soldiers are freed alongside him… which is why Nicko is going to have to meet someone that can… help him master his power. Because I have three things in mind that he needs to do before he is ready to fight.”

Nicko looked at the displacer, confused. He was not sure what to say, but soon, Glave got to him first before he could speak.

“The first two things that he needs to be able to fully control his powers. The first one being your Rune Magic. The second one being the abilities Ryu taught you. Once you have those under your control, you on your own shouldn’t be a problem. The third one though is going to be a lot different… You need allies.”

“Allies?”

“This is an enemy that you can’t fight by yourself. But the more allies that you have, the better. Plus, Ran does not know of the Displaced, so he would not know what they would be capable of. Do I make myself clear?”

“I’ll help. Once Lyall is delivered and I have a chance to rest,” Max offered. “I could give you the Tokens of several others who’d be willing to help as well.”

“That… can be a start.” Glave replied. “Before I will go though, there is one thing that I need to let you know… Keep an eye on your niece.”

“Faith?” Nicko retorted. “Why’s that-?”

“You know how your friend Amy has Selena?” Glave told him. “Well, to put it bluntly, Faith has one too. However, many other Displaced might not be so open to hearing about who it is… Sombra.” Before Nicko or Max could say anything though, Glave disappeared with a cyan glow as he faded away into the void. Leaving the Rune Slayer partially shocked. He only knew a little bit about King Sombra. But hearing that he was with Faith set off major alarms in his head.

“Huh, well that might not be good,” Max said.

“It’s more than that. Ran is the reason why Tartarus was created in the first place. He was sealed away long ago, but his powers still lingered on and it was the reason Sombra went insane. It corrupts them internally and has the subject give in to their desires. The only reason why he’s stayed sealed for 1200 years is because three keys were used to hold him away.” Nicko then looked back at Max, a look of worry on his face. “If someone is trying to break him out, then they’re trying to take the keys that sealed him away so they can remove the seal.”

“Then I guess it would be prudent to get one of the keys and put it in a safe deposit box. All those ruins with traps in them won’t do much aside from make it easier for whomever is trying to release him.”

“Right… I guess there isn’t a point in standing around here then.” Nicko sighed. “I got work to do.”

Max smiles and holds out her hand for Nicko to shake. “It was fun meeting you, then.” Nicko smiled, shaking the outstretched hand and pulling her in for a hug.

“It was fun meeting you as well… Make sure my parents come back safely.” He said to her as she nodded her head. Shortly after, he took his blade Void Edge and cut a hole in the void before entering it and having it close behind him. Leaving Max by herself in the empty room as she turned around to join back with her husband and their guests.

End Log 20

Log 21- Double Trouble

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Of Magic and Machines- Double Trouble

Ponyville

When Nicko returned back to his world, his first major priority was to check on Eris and Moondancer. After some searching, he was able to find them back in the home that they stayed in and followed up by apologizing for missing out on the doctor's appointment they had. Turns out, part of what Max told him was right. Eris was having Twins. But also there was Moondancer, who she herself was also pregnant. It was too early to tell the baby’s genders as of yet, but he thought that with time, they could find out later if it was a boy or girl. The one thing though that they mentioned to him though was that the only other person who knows about this besides Luke and Ciela was Anson since he had to help them get to the appointment.

Which turned out to be awkward when they asked him not to tell Faith about it as she was walking in the door. “Uhh, what are you guys talking about?”

“Just… you know… important things…” Moondancer replied, embarrassed a little as Nicko facepalmed himself. The Rune Slayer quickly had to change the conversation so they could not all act awkward around Faith at the same time. In fact, Glave mentioned something important that he needed to address.

“Right… Faith, can you sit down for a minute. I need to talk to you about something.” He said, Eris and Moondancer taking up seats on a nearby couch as the Rune Slayer began to speak.

“Sure, Uncle Nicko. What is it?”

The Rune Slayer thought of it for a few minutes, but then sighed. “Can we talk to your friend?” He first asked. “You don’t need to hide it Faith. I know that you have a spirit of sorts with you like I have Eris sometimes.”

“Y-you do?”

“I am very skilled with magic, meaning I can do lots of things.” Nicko sighed. “So, can we please be able to meet them?” Faith looked nervous, almost shaking a little. But soon she stopped as a shadow of a body on the wall began to form.

“It’s okay, Faith. You can tell them.” The wraith said, barely being seen by Eris and Moondancer. Both of them stared at the wraith in confusion as they tried to make sense of what was going on. But Nicko just remained composed. Showing fear and/or worry would not help him as of right now. Instead, being strong and brave would show how serious you are. Which actually got the wraith to grin a little as Faith began to speak. “This is my friend, Sombra. He’s done some bad things in the past, but now has been helping me try to do my best so he can one day be able to forgive himself. He hasn’t done anything bad like possessed me or anything, but he’s actually had me figure out to what extent that I can be able to channel my powers. Like switching my source code.”

“I see… Though, I have heard that name before.” Nicko replied to her. “I had heard of his old deeds, yes. But I have also heard that a demon king possessed him all that time ago. Would you care to clarify on this matter, Sombra?”

“If you are referring to the bastard named Ran that corrupted me, then yes. However, it wasn’t as much of a possession as you would think. He didn’t neccessarily control my body, but his power and influence controlled my mind, leading me to make horrible choices and decisions at the expense of my kingdom and family. Something I regret to this day.”

“Woah, hold on… Are you saying that the reason why the old you almost went to war with the princesses was because this Ran’s guys power warped your mind into doing so?” Moondancer asked. It was then that Sombra nodded his head, looking at Moondancer from his position in the room. However, there was something about the unicorn that he noticed that stood out immediately. Just from first glance.

“Indeed… Nicko, right? I would assume by that mare’s blade that she is an apprentice to you?” The wraith asked, where Nicko’s only reply was a nod of the head. “Well, that is ironic… Barely anypony besides Starswirl the Bearded could know that… However…”

“However what?” Eris asked, a bit tense by the way things are turning around.

“The ability to read runes for Starswirl got to the point for him to where either he would teach somepony how to use them or the gift of using that kind of magic was passed along his family tree…” Sombra replied, before stopping a minute. He sniffed something in the air before looking back at Nicko and Faith. “I’m sorry, I’m getting sidetracked. Why do you mention Ran? Last I heard, he was in Tartarus.”

“He’s trying to get out. He’s influenced a Chaser named Arma to try and find the keys used to lock him up so he can return to this world.” Nicko explained. “I want to make sure I stop him before he does anything major.”

“You can’t do anything with him in Tartarus. That place nullifies all magic the moment you walk into the prison.” Sombra said, causing Nicko to curse under his breath. “Your only way of hurting him is to attack him once he’s out. I feel that you have the magic to do so, but you need to prepare yourself for him in more ways than one.”

“More ways than one?”

“Do you honestly think that it’s just that Chaser you mentioned that is doing this. Ran has soldiers and generals in parts of the world that Celestia hadn’t noticed or went into hiding. Two of them are a set of twins that forced me to give into him.” Sombra explained, slowing a transparent image of the twins. “They are the ones in charge of his army and the Steel Lava battalion that lurks in the badlands. Once Ran is free, they would follow whatever he orders them to do.”

Nicko groaned to himself. Added on top of what Glave had already said, this was just insult added to injury. It was really not the best time to add salt in the wound, so to speak. But things just kept on coming at them. Even when Nicko and everypony inside had two abrupt guests burst through the door.

“Sup losers! Guess who’s back?!”

“Amy, I’ve been only gone for one evening and you’re giving the exact same response that you gave when coming back from vacation,” Nicko deadpanned, only to notice someone behind her. “Who’s your friend? … Or should I say partner in crime? She looks mischevious.”

“F*** you Nicko, and as for my friend. Meet Umbra Tundra.”

“Let me just say that the next time you judge a pony by the way he or she looks. Be prepare to have something happen to you in your sleep little boy.”

“Need I let you know, I’m 25 and in a few months, will be a married man-.” However, what Nicko said was on deaf ears as Amy’s friend noticed Sombra next to Faith, which in turn caused her eyes to twitch. “Uh… are you okay-?”

“YOU SON OF A B*TCH!!!” Umbra screamed, causing Faith to look at her with a confused glance.

“Umm… who are you talking to?” Faith asked, pointing at Sombra. “Me or him?”

“I’m pretty sure she means the thing next to you Faith.” Amy said as Umbra’s horn started to glow sickly purple. “And something tells me she know who the wraith is.”

“How dare you show your face or presence around me you heartless monster!!” She screamed, firing a blast of magic at the wraith, only for it to slip through him and hit the wall on the other side. However, Sombra just blankly stared at her, only able to form a few words.

“U-umbra?” He said, almost heartbroken. “Oh Artemis, what have I done…” These weren’t the words of a madman anymore. No, these were the words of a man trying to reform, only for the past to come back to haunt him in the form of his own daughter.

“Oh I’ve been waiting for one thousand years to meet you again. It’s payback time for what you did to me, and those you took away from me!” It was only then though that the unexpected thing happened. Faith, being next to him, put herself in between the wraith and the madpony that was his daughter.

“I don’t know what you have been through, but this is not the Sombra you know anymore. He lost his physical body and with it, the powers that were plaguing his mind. He’s just a wraith trying to reform his ways… and if you dare try to harm him…” She snarled, all six nasod blades forming around her, aimed at vital points along Umbra’s body. “Than be ready for a world of hurt!!”

“Kid, you better get the hell out of my way. I been wait far too long to get revenge on that thing for what he did to me and the Crystal Empire. You think something like that will kill me?”

“It’s true, Celestia tried it before and….it didn’t go so well for me when she almost cut my head off.” Amy said slightly shivering from the experience.

“Look, what I did then is my biggest regrets now and Faith is speaking the truth,” Sombra spoke “What I did was wrong, I will not deny it. But if I told you what was happening to me then, you wouldn’t believe me for a second. If it weren’t for Faith… I would’ve disappeared from the world without having to apologize to my daughter.”

“Oh I bet you’re sorry, just like all the other times when you said it while experimenting on me with that stupid book me and mother told you throw away.” Umbra said as a dark aura appeared around her from anger. “I bet you’re sorry when you killed mother when she and I were trying to escape. I bet you’re sorry that you sealed me away after your so called “better the crystal empire plan” did work. Well you know what I have to say about that?”

“Oh I’m hoping this doesn’t turn south.” Amy thought.

“Experimenting? Why the hell would I do that to my daughter!?”

“Oh that would be me…” A mysterious voice echoed, causing all of them turned to see a shadowy figure in the back corner. Sombra’s eyes widened as the pony resembled his tyrant self. The self that he wanted to forget. But the voice belonged to someone else as it transformed into a white haired figure with horns on his head.

“You bastard...” He snarled.

“You see, out of everything I could do, I wasn’t able to get this poor excuse of a king to harm his family. So, instead I just used my magic to copy his form and perform the so called experiments myself… Oh and I’m Ran by the way.”

“What the hell!? How are you here?!” Moondancer shouted, throwing a rune at the figure, only for it to phase right through him.

“I’m not actually here. This is merely a mirage of who I used to be,” The demon snickered. “And look at this, a wonderful family reunion. The misguided daughter and the father that could never be loved. I love it when I put a twist in people’s stories.”

“....Who’s the emo looking mother****er that looks like he’s from some kind of rejected emo band?” Amy asked.

“Need you know that I’m the one, and excuse my french, f***ed up Umbra’s life. If it weren’t for that damned Starswirl, I would have gone for Selena and those royal siblings next.” He growled. “I’m just here to let you all know of… well… your imminent demise.”

“.......Oh I’m sorry, I kinda lost my train of thought when you were talking. What were you saying again?”

“... I’m going to enjoy making your life a living hell… After all, your father has told me a lot about you… Amy.” He growled with a sinister look on his face.

“Join the f**king club. You think you’re the only one that’s been trying to kill for the past seven years?”

“I know… but unlike all the others…” He said, holding out a hand that glowed purple, causing Amy to float aimlessly. “I know a lot of your insecurities… As for Umbra… Sombra might not know this… but I was the one that murdered your mother.” With it, he tossed Amy out the window, sending her several feet into the everfree.

“You son of a b*tch…” Sombra snarled. “How dare you do that to Amethyst!!”

“Oh it wasn’t me… It was just me looking like you… How’s that for publicity?”

“Damn, talk about adding insult to injury.” Amy said as she walked back inside the house.

“Well, I must be off… but beforehand… maybe Umbra would like to explain to daddy how he forced himself onto her-.”

“Hey Ran, I have question to ask you?”

“Sorry Ms. Anderson, but I know you have an antic of surprises. After all, you did destroy half of Canterlot-.” But it was when Amy tried to strike him that Ran was able to harm the Crimson Avenger more than she thought.

“Eat this you child molesting freak-!” It was then that Amy felt all the air get blown out of her, causing something from her pockets to drop as Ran threw her into Twilight’s castle.

“Well, what do we have here? Something from the sister of that Diabolic Esper?” He said, picking up the void like shard. “This shall be quite… useful with breaking me out of Tartarus. I’ll just have to… borrow it for the time being.” With that, he was gone, leaving Amy still recovering in the snow and everyone in a state of shock.

“Oh Amelia and Amy are going to be pissed.” Eris cursed as things began to settle down.

“Oh you have no idea sister.” Umbra said as she had a scared expression on her face. “Oh dear Celestia.”

“Umbra… are you okay?” Nicko asked, trying to go to the unicorn to see if she was okay or not.

“I-I gotta go.” Tears began to flow down Umbra face, as began to make her way out of the house. “I-I...Oh dear Celestia.”

Everyone else just stared in shock, but for Faith. She remained unphased. Slowly though, Sombra began to disappear into her as she began to walk outside. Nicko wasn’t even able to ask what she was doing as she went into the snow. It was a few minutes later that she found the unicorn, who was sick to her stomach and throwing up in a trash can. After a few moments though, Umbra noticed Faith not far from her.

“What do you want?” Umbra asked. “Can’t you see I’m *ulp* busy at the moment?”

“I can wait…” She said, looking at her. “You can’t go through something like this on your own. Trust me… I know myself that you need someone to talk too.”

“I don’t need help with my personal problems kid. All I need is some apple cider and some candy and I’ll be set for a while.”

“I have candy, but not the other… And I’m not letting you drink. I may be young, but I have seen someone that has gone through the same position before.” The Code Nemesis said, looking back at the Unicorn as she offered her some chocolate.

“Oh really? Care to tell me who then? Because right now I don’t see any other pony that have gone through the hell I been through.”

“My father…” The girl explained. “When the news came that my mother had passed, there were many times I saw him drink his sobers away. He told me that my mother died due to a car crash, but I know that was just to hide the truth from me. I may be young, but I’m not stupid…” Faith herself just set the chocolate by Umbra’s hooves as she walked over to her, sitting next to her in the snow.

“Explain, because you’re not making that much sense to me kid.”

“Before she was killed in that crash, she went through the same thing that you went through. She was raped, lost on a saturday night and trying to find a way home before being brutally beaten and messed with. It was only when she tried to escape by taking a bus that someone slammed into it, killing everyone on board in exchange for his own life. My father had the best intentions. He thinks I still have my child like innocence, but that’s where he’s wrong too.” Faith told Umbra. “I’ve seen how screwed up the world is back in my world. And personally, I prefer being here instead of anywhere else. But I don’t want you to go through this alone, like he once did.” To Umbra, it looked like Faith was actually crying because of the snow falling down the side of her face, making it look like she was shedding tears.

“......Come here kid.” Umbra said as she offered Faith a hug. Faith, in looking at Umbra, took the hug as she held onto her.

“T-thank you…” She said as her tears became visible now.

“Don’t mention it.” Umbra said her body started to fade. “Dammit, still haven’t enough magic to keep a physical form for long.” Faith turned, now just staring at her.

“Please don’t go… You’re like an older sister to me. I never had one, but you’ve been the only one I have been able to share how I feel to.”

Umbra had a deadpanned expression on her face as she summoned a toy hammer and bopped Faith on the head with it playfully. “I’m dying, just returning to Amy for a refill on magic.”

“Can’t you stay with me? I have mana if that’s what you need.”

“It’s complicated. Normally that would help Selena, but seeing how you’re not evil or anything on the borderline of….well Amy. That would pretty much cause some problems for me.”

“I have infinite energy. I’m pretty much part machine.” Faith deadpanned.

“True, but you don’t have the same kind of destructive taste like Amy does.” Umbra said as she begun to drool a bit. “I mean the way she destroys buildings, piss off Celestia, and the way she does it with RD in bed…..Don’t give me that judging look on me. Have you not seen the videos of Amy wrecking the place?”

“...... Give me a second.” Faith replied, looking at the Everfree in the distance. “Moby, Remy. Seek targets.”

“Acquired 35 possible targets, my lady.” Moby proclaimed. “What are your orders?”

“Lunatic Scud.”

“As you command, lady Faith.” All around Faith, hundreds of mechs and heavy weapons were armed and primed for action, even surprising Umbra.

“Targets locked.”

“Fire.” she said simply. All the weapons and heavy ammunition exploded, racing towards the targets as it created an explosion that reached towards the sky. And all Faith did was smile a little at the destruction that was in front of her. “Heh… I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

“Impressive, but not on the same level as Amy.” Umbra pulled out a video card and handed it to Faith. “Have a look at these and you’ll see what I mean.”

“Oh I know, that’s why I was only using 25% of my power. If I go 100%, I’m on the same level as her.”

“......Yeah let’s go with that.”

“My uncle is another story, but let’s save that for another day.” Faith suggested, looking back at Umbra. “Hey, if you want to talk about anything at all or just need some time to… you know… get away from the craziness… I can hang out with you.”

“I’ll allow it.”

“Alright…” Faith said. But before the Code Nemesis could walk back to where the rest of her family was, she heard Umbra speak up again.

“Hey, mind if you can relay a message to my dad?”

Faith turned around, sighing and smiling a little. “You know…” She started to speak as Sombra formed in his shadow like form against a wall. “Since he doesn’t have a physical body, he can’t last forever on his own. He’s helped me so many times, so I wouldn’t mind helping him instead.” Looking at the former king, Faith looked back at Umbra. “What would you like for me to tell him?”

“If he wants to talk to me, you can find me in a house made of clouds above Sweet Apple Acres if he wants to talk to me.”

Faith nodded her head, turning her head to Sombra and seeing him nod his. “Message received.”

“Good, now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be inside Amy for the next few days.” Umbra said as she turned into a wisp and floated to where Amy is. “Oh and you might want to head back. Amelia is about to yell at Amy and Nicko.”

“Right… Given what’s been happening lately, I think I should stay clear of that.” She smirked, choosing the better option of going to Sugarcube Corner to get herself a bite to eat.

“You dumbass’ had one job, one f**king job and you f**ked all up! Nice going captain idiot and short temper kid.” Amelia said as she glared at Nicko and Amy.

“Hey, neither of us were expecting a HOME INVASION to happen at that point in time. Plus, it was Amy who actually attacked him and paid the price for it.” The Rune Slayer told her. “Speaking of which, what the hell was that item he stole? Ran said it had something to do with you.”

“You didn’t tell him didn’t you Amy?”

“It’s kinda hard to tell the guy when he pretty much goes off to different worlds.” Amy said. “Might as well tell him now anyway.”

“For the record, the worlds part only happens when I am summoned. Now can we please get back on topic?” Eris groaned. “You sound like my mother when she stretches out conversations.”

“I’ll talk how ever I damn please. Right now I am pissed off to levels I have never been since the time Luna and Celestia trapped me for their personal plans. Anyway, if you must know, Eric is my little brother.”

“I know that,” The Rune Slayer replied, remembering his encounter with her at Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns. “I remember you saying that before.”

“And as for that little el shard you let Ran get his hands on, belong to Eric. I had Amy hold onto it until I was finished making a special little device for her.”

Moondancer though, groaned a bit. “I don’t mean to be rude when I say this, but could you do us all a favor and GET TO THE F**KING POINT!!”

“Oooh,” Eris chuckled. “Feisty.”

“.........” Amelia didn’t say anything , but levitated Moondancer and Eris and threw them out the window. “I am not in the mood to deal with you two sh*theads at the moment. Right now I want to know where the damn dark el shard is.”

It was a few seconds later that Eris soon teleported back in, holding Moondancer. “Ran mentioned Tartarus because he was trying to get out… Also, next time you should think twice before throwing a pair of pregnant mares out the window.”

“Wait you two are preggers?” Amy asked.

Nicko just sighed a little, looking back at her. “Yes. Both of them are my fiance’s now and we will be getting married in a few months. Eris even has twins…… And I’m starting to think this is the reason that you and Rainbow aren’t ready for parenthood yet.”

“......At least I have my emotions in check unlike you get’s angry whenever someone calls you short.”

“Coming from the one who destroyed half of Canterlot,” Eris mumbled. “Oh yeah… Lyra told me that one.”

“This coming from the draconequus who’s been in stone for the past seven years. So unless you could take down a guy who could wreck your sh*t, then I wouldn’t be talking smack about how I defended equestria during you and Nicko’s stone slumber.”

“I had to fight two of you at one point as a test from a god with a twisted sense of humor.” Nicko sighed. “Plus, what you saw as seven years felt like seven hours to us.”

It was then though that a certain spacial tear opened by it opening up like a zipper. Out stepped out the man that Nicko knew as Glave, who the Rune Slayer had believed that he was listening in on their conversation for the last few minutes and was personally tired of the bickering between everypony. “You aren’t wrong on that Nicko… Why, hello again Ms. Anderson. It has been quite some time since I last saw you…”

“Oh great you’re here. What the hell do want this time mister I have to get someone else to fix my problems Glave?”

“You know… when I said it had seen you before, it was for a different reason,” he said as he snapped his fingers, turning himself into what resembled Ariel, an NPC in Elsword. “When was the last time that you saw this?”

“You can thank Amelia for that.” She said as she pointed at the female esper.

“Actually, like Nicko… I displaced you. Both of you were at the same store on the same day you got displaced… Did you not get any of the signs?”

Amelia’s left eye twitch. “So you’re the jackass that sent me to that hell hole of a world called Equestria?”

“More or less… I sent Amy and Nicko… the previous owner of Henir’s Realm, Luto, sent you. Trust me, he’s insane. But that doesn’t mean that Amelia didn’t send Amy… She just sent a different version. One that had not lost her original powers and is in a different timeline unlike ours.” Glave explained, holding up a hand as it showed an image of Amy in a blazing heart outfit fighting against Luna, the female counterpart to Artemis. “However, that is not the reason why I am here.”

“Okay, then please clarify why you’re here then.” Nicko replied.

“Simple… You lost a Dark El Shard… but I know a place to find another…” Glave replied. “But to do that, you guys need to go traveling… To the same place where Amelia displaced the Amy she remembered.”

“Wait… So let me get this straight… You want us to go to the world of another Amy?” The Rune Slayer asked. “Of course, no one would actually agree to do something like that-.”

“Oh hell yes!! Take me there please!!” The Crimson Avenger shouted, causing Nicko to facepalm himself.

“Oh god no…” He groaned, looking back at her. “Please tell me there is at LEAST a way to keep her from doing anything stupid.”

“I make no promises on that one.” Amy smirked menacingly. All this did was cause Amelia to groan a little as she looked back at Glave.

“Glave…”

“Yes?”

“When we make it out of this… I’m going to go back in time… and slap myself for even considering this idea.” She deadpanned, only getting a surprise response from Eris nearby.

“Can I come?”

“That sounds tempting, but remember. Doctors orders said that you need to cut back on the void travel in order to have a healthy child.” Nicko replied to them, looking back at Amy and Amelia. “So, where to from here?”

“Simple my short friend, I’ll just teleport us to the other Amy’s world via our Amy.” Amelia said as she cracked her neck. “Been 500 years since I’ve done something like this, so forgive me if we appear over a lake or something.” She said as she placed a hand on Amy’s shoulder. “Fair warning, you might want to turn your head to the left.”

“Any reason why?” Nicko asked as he followed Amelia’s request.

“Oh, it’s because of the side effect from teleporting another version of the same person… let’s just say you’re gonna be sick and throwing up rainbows when we appear.” With that, Nicko rolled his eyes, but also swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked back at them. With that, Amelia used her powers to send the three of them off on their way to the realm of the other Amy.

Train Ride (Domain of the Blazing Heart)

“It would seems we have reached the finale of our little fight, Amy and Applejack.” Eric said as he summon a void like spear aim at them both. “Though I have to say, you two did really well. Especially having my void spears impale you both.”

“Asshole, what did I ever do to you to begin with?” Amy asked as she threw up a small amount of blood, while Applejack tried to get the blazing heart away from Eric.

“Nothing really, but I need that flame of yours.” He said as the spear pierced through Amy’s left shoulder. “Now be a good little girl and die for me.”

“Over my dead body!” Applejack said as she fired a shotgun shell at the male esper, but deflected of him.

“You really never learn do you? Well you can learn in the afterlife!” Eric yelled as he fired two more spears at them both.

“Guess this is the end huh Applejack? Well at least we didn’t go down without a fight.”

“Amy…… before we die… I have something I want to tell you…” Amy turned her head to the country pony as she saw tears flowed down her face. “I-.”

Just as the earth pony was going to say something, a tear in the void opened from behind them as it spat out three figures. One in which stopped the spears that were flying towards them with two strange projectiles followed up by smashing his foot in Eric’s face as it sent him flying backwards. All while two other figures landed next to them as they proceeded to get the spheres out of them.

“......Okay I’m still a bit on death’s door so mind telling me what just happen?” Amy asked as she started coughing up blood. “Are we dead?”

Nicko turned around, looking back at Amy and Applejack before sighing a little. “Wow… talk about flashbacks… Hey Amelia, can you get those spears out of her?”

“If they were normal yes, but these are void induced spears so we need to get them to the hospital asap.” Amelia said as she placed the two injured beings in a purple clear sphere. “The sphere they’re in will stop the poison, but we need to get them medical help.”

“Let’s hurry and do so then. Rather not have them die on us the moment we got here.” He said as he walked over to where Amelia and them were before she teleported them to the Ponyville Hospital.

“I feel like we’re forgetting something…..Oh wait.” Amy said as she notice a pissed off Esper standing behind them. “Didn’t I kill you before, or was it a fake clone of yours?”

“......I’m going to enjoy killing you…… again.” Eric said as he summoned a void sphere into his hand.

“Nicko, mind helping CA Amy out with my.... d*ck of a brother? Fair warning, don’t get hit by that void spear.” Amelia said as she enters the hospital with the other Amy and Applejack. “Don’t be afraid to kill him.”

“Oh trust me… I’m not.” Nicko snarled, unsheathing his blade as he stared his opponent down. But what he heard next was strange. Even for him.

“It’s been 7 long years you little punk.” Eric said as he took a fighting stance. “I’ve been waiting along time for what your family did to me.”

“This is going to be a pain in the ass to deal with.” Amy said as she pulled her claymore out of her chest. “What’s even more annoying is that this isn’t the real Eric.”

“If that’s the case, then why is he acting like he knows us?” Nicko asked, conjuring a rune in his hand.

“Because during the past 7 years you been in stone, he’s been powering himself up by collecting data on other displaced humans. Kat Shifter, Saber, Nobunaga, etc, etc. He even collected data on you and your family over the years, and when you broke out of your stone prison.” She said as she looked at the cloned Eric. “This type of clone is a pain in the ass.”

“...... You sure do know a lot about him.” Nicko replied sarcastically. “Now let’s get this over with.”

“I been fighting him for the past 7 years, of course I know a lot about him.” Amy said as she drew her sword out in front of Nicko. “You just sit back and collect data on him so you’ll know what clone L can do.”

“What do I look like? A robot?” He growled, looking back at the other Amy. “Oh come on!”

“No but this will give you some info on how Eric is now. Plus you been in stone for the past 7 years so a lot has change. Now watch the L clone carefully while I inform you about it.” Amy said as she lifted her sword to block the clone’s lance while looking at Nicko. “Because I prefer not to have you mom lecture me because of you acting before thinking.” Nicko just rolled his eyes, not taking Amy seriously, but still paying attention to this Eric as he began cracking his knuckles.

“I’m so sorry that I’m not actually there in order to kill you two in person,” One of the clones mocked. “I deeply apologize for the inconvience… Sick’em!”

“With pleasure.” said the clone as his spear began to glow. “Gae Bolg!”

“Fate Stay/Night? Wow… Shows how much originality Eric tries with his tricks.” Nicko mocked, taking out one of his swords as he blocked it and countered the clones attacks with a few of his own. Unaware that the clones were basically turning Amy into an abused pin cushion with the amount of times that she was getting shanked.

“Seriously? What the **** man!” Amy yelled as she glared at Nicko in annoyance.

“Why are you standing there then!?” He shouted back, only noticing that this Amy was angrier than ever and allowing her space to lash out her anger at Eric’s Doppelgangers.

“That’s why captain numb nutts! Now stand back and watch like I told you to do and let me deal with them, got it!? God your personality was the one thing I didn’t miss.”

“I have enough magic to annhilate you ten times over if it weren’t for your abilities. Just go for it then,” He said, just watching this time as he saw Amy fight off Eric’s clones.

“Okay I’m back from the hosptial, what did I miss?” Amelia said only for her question to be answered by the fight Amy was having. “Well that answers two of my questions.”

Nicko just watched as the other Amy walked over to where he was and looked in his direction. He sighed a little, watching the Crimson Avenger version of her execute Blood Cutter to tear apart the clones… and part of the train cabin with it.

“It’s a good thing you’re not fighting Nicko.” Amelia said as she summon a bag popcorn. “That thing might be a bit difficult for BH Amy later on.”

“That’s technically why we’re here right?” He asked, raising an eyebrow in the process.

“If you were to use one of you new skill or something along those lines.” Amelia said as she pointed at a one of Eric dynamo’s. “He would’ve copy it and make a clone of you to fight BH Amy during the final battle with her.”

“Isn’t that suppose to be labeled for spoilers?” Nicko chuckled a little. “But in all seriousness, Amy went all Texas Chainsaw Massacre on those guys and almost annihilated the train in the process. Hopefully she doesn’t go all cannibal in the process.”

“Guess she’s still not over what happen to RD three years ago.”

Nicko was going to ask, but decided to save it when he felt the train slowing down on the tracks and an all too familiar scream in the distance. “AMY ANDERSON!!!” It was BH Amy’s Celestia and she was as furious as the burning sun.

“Not in the mood sunbutt, go complain to someone else about the damage.” The other Amy said as she weakly pointed at the Crimson Avenger. “Unless you wanna deal with her, then be my guess.”

“And who… is she?” The Alicorn asked, then noticing Nicko, but not Amelia after she disappeared in the blink of an eye. “Matter of fact, who are you?”

“An alternate version of your Amy.” She said as she notice that her own arm was missing. “Hold on a second.” Amy said as her blood form into an arm. Causing the Alicorn to become sick to her stomach as she teleported off in a flash, just leaving Luna there to watch

“Much better.”

“Trust me, this is normal for my Amy,” Nicko sighed, looking back at all the chaos around them. “Be thankful she’s on our side.”

“If the girls were here they would find that kinda cool on so many levels.” The Blazing Heart version of Amy smiled, only causing Nicko to sigh as she actually noticed him nearby. “Who are you, her boyfriend?”

“Oh no… Definitely not. She just came with me. Names Nicko and… well, I already know who you are… Amy.” He said, catching her attention.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t know me that well.”

“Amy Anderson III, Daughter of Jane Anderson, Older sister of Molly Anderson IV, and a normal nuisance for Yuri Watanabe… Need I say more?” Nicko said, “Besides, whatever the case may be, we’re finally back at your Ponyville so we should get off the train.”

“You really need to ask me before you go assuming that you know me. First off that is my name, but I do not know who Yuri Watanabe is. Second, just because I look like your Amy doesn’t mean we have the same history.”

“Well, the only difference that I see is that my Eric almost killed my Amy and took away her powers as a Blazing Heart, so now she is a Crimson Avenger… But she’s probably just as reckless as you are.” He pointed out as he got off the train. Luna looking like she was taking a bit of interest in him.

“What part of assuming did I not make myself clear?” Amy said in annoyance. “Not every Amy is as reckless as she is.”

“Hey! I take offense to that!” Amy said as she notice Luna looking at Nicko. “What’s up with you, Luna?”

“Well, remember when you taught me how to become a Rune Slayer a month ago? Well, I feel the same kind of magic radiating from him. But a LOT stronger. He’s even stronger than you.” The Lunar Princess replied, surprising the Blazing Heart. Nicko though never exactly heard the princesses comments, but he did hear what Amy then said next.

“Your point?”

“Well… He’s just as strong as myself, Celestia, Twilight and you… combined.” Luna replied, making the Blazing Heart not even think for a second that the short stack she was seeing had that much power.

“Huh, well that’s something you don’t see everyday. Then again it comes to no surprise when you think about it. Hell I got a goddess of chaos in my head so meh.”

That was when Nicko looked back and smirked. “I’m engaged to Discord’s daughter. Nuff said.”

“Who’s Discord?”

“Spirit of Chaos back in my world and a bit of a weird one. Likes to prank the royal siblings any second he gets,” Nicko replied sighing a little as he looked back at them. “His daughter is named Eris. Now what exactly is the plan now since Eric nearly butchered you six ways from Sunday.”

“Beats me. Sooner or later he’ll probably make some kind of stupid machine to try to take over the world or something along those lines. When that comes, we’ll just wing it.” The Blazing Heart just shrugged as she looked back at Nicko. The Rune Slayer was going to say something, until he heard a familiar voice from a familiar farm mare that was coming towards this Amy.

“Amy, thank Celestia you’re okay.” Applejack said as she notice Nicko next to her. “Who’s the adult midget beside you?” That… did not go down so well with the Rune Slayer as he gritted his teeth. Magic forming around his hands as Luna and Amy could feel the amount of power coursing from him. Almost strong enough to compare him to Starswirl the Bearded or Clover the Clever. Perhaps a demigod even.

“Easy Nicko,” The Crimson Avenger said as she appeared next to him. “You know letting your anger get the better of you will label you as a bad guy if you attack them for making a mistake. Plus Amelia would kick both our asses if you wreck the place.” Nicko sighed, calming down a little as his magic began to retreat back into his body. Applejack then noticed the other Amy and then raised an eyebrow.

“Is this a born again thing or something?”

“No, she’s basically Alternate Amy.” Nicko sighed.

“Yeah...hey do you have a version of our mother and sister?” Amy asked only for the Blazing Heart’s facial expression to go dark.

“They’re dead, you’re looking at the only member of the Anderson family that’s still alive.”

“Well… that’s new. Back where we are, Molly is a Mastermind and Jane is a Noblesses.” The Rune Slayer spoke up. “And Artemis might have a liking for Jane if I remember correctly.”

“Does it look like I care?” Amy said as she walked over to Applejack. “Take me to the farm, I’m not in the mood to talk now.”

“Yeah… about that…” Nicko said, noticing Amy and also one other thing that caught his attention. “Why is there smoke coming from Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Five bits says Applebloom figured out how to do use fire magic.” Amy said as they saw a pillar of fire appearing in the air.

“Consarnit, I told her not to practice that fire magic around the farm.” Applejack snapped. Before she could say anything else though, Nicko took off. Bolting into a head start while using Splash Explosion on his feet to gain speed as he raced over there. Finding something that he honestly never expected. Like with Scootaloo back in his world, Amy here made Applebloom a Pyro Knight. Only this time though, she needed a LOT more practice with her newfound powers given that Earth Ponies aren’t as accustomed to magic as Unicorns and Pegasi.

“Uh… Hi?” Applebloom squeaked. “W-who are you?”

“I’m Nicko… I could see the smoke coming from a mile away.” The Rune Slayer replied as Amy soon showed up right behind him.

“Have to admit, that was a pretty impressive fire display you did there, Applebloom. But next time try doing that in an open field away from the farm. We don’t want the apple trees to catch on fire.”

“Amy brings up a good point,” Nicko replied. “Besides, we still have to figure out some things while we’re at it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we still need to find out where that jerk Eric scurried off too and from the fact that Amy almost died because of him, it seems like Amy here needs some serious training.” The Rune Slayer added on, causing the Blazing Heart to raise an eyebrow as she looked back at him.

“First off, I don’t need training from you mister quick to assume and easily tempered boy. Second, the training I’ve been doing it working well for me so far. Despite having to help Luna to some degree.” Amy said, looking at the princess, who looked away sheepishly.

“Says the fact that we saved your ass from becoming a torn up pin cushion. Plus, I hate it whenever someone refers to my height. Mostly because the Amy I know pestered me about it til no end. Not to mention that we have one thing that you don’t have.” The last statement caught the Blazing Heart’s attention as she folded her arms and looked back at the Rune Slayer.

“Forgive if I’m a bit skeptical, but wasn’t Amy that pretty much took care of those carbon copies of that Eric person. Also, you should be careful with your problem about people calling you short. It’ll end up getting you or someone else hurt.” Amy said as she glared at the Rune Slayer. “Don’t think I forgot what you were about to do to Applejack.”

“I wasn’t going to do anything. Besides, you don’t have experience like we do and if you even tried to fight me, I’ll have you collide into your marefriend faster than Amy’s face is when someone brings up her relationship with Rainbow Dash… No offense.” He said as he looked back at the Crimson Avenger.

“Okay one, don’t use me as a reference for stuff like this. Two, if you even think of attack my alternate self then I’ll tell my mother about that. And believe me when it comes to something like this… you really don’t want to piss her off.” The Crimson Avenger said as she walked next to her alternate self. “Give me like 10 minutes with my other self hothead, and things will be a little different.”

“Sure. Wasn’t planning on angering anypony today.” The Rune Slayer sighed deeply as he leaned back against a nearby tree. He took a moment to think about Eris and Moondancer, wondering about how they would be doing while he was gone. That moment though… was very short lived.

“Oh...almost forgot that you were still here.” Applejack said with a bit malice in her voice.

“Hey, if it means anything, I’m sorry about before. Old habits die hard for me.” He replied as he looked at the farm mare and chuckled. “Plus, I had a feeling that you and Amy were close here, so I decided to not accidently hurt her Marefriend for my sake and my friend.”

“W-we are not marefriends! And don’t expect me to trust you after almost hitting a mare mister.”

“I understand… I know that you care for her and I can tell that more than just by the fact that you blush if I mention it.” Nicko smiled. “Aren’t you suppose to be the Element of Honesty? Because from I know with my Applejack, she is never a good liar. Can’t lie to save her own flank.” That, caused AJ to raise an eyebrow before sighing deeply. The Rune Slayer was right… partially. But he still had caught her by surprise with his observations.

“If you don’t mind I have some important stuff to do around the farm.” Applejack said as she tilted her and began to walk off.

“Mind if I help? It’ll probably be a while until both Amy’s are done talking and with Applebloom practicing her newfound Fire Magic, you might need an extra hand around the farm.” He offered, catching her attention for a brief second.

“Big Mac is helping me out, and I don’t need help from somepony like you.” She said as she walked off. “Here’s a bit of an old saying. Trust is earned, not given.”

“I know. Trust me when I say that I would give my life to do the right thing. I would die before letting any harm come to anypony I just met or know.” He said, turning back around as he walked over to where Applebloom was. To Applejack’s surprise, the kid was conjuring some magic between his fingers as he restored life to the grass that was burned to cinders just moments ago by her little sister. As she returned back to work, the Rune Slayer himself just rested by himself… until he felt a familiar presence above him.

“Okay, you can come out now.” He said, smiling a little. He had a feeling that someone familiar was hiding there. It just felt… familiar.

“Man you just as worse as Celestia, always telling me to stop being invisible.” Eris said as she made herself known.

“Honestly, I could just tell that you were there. My Eris would do the exact same thing and we’ve been together for quite some time.” He smiled, looking back at the Spirit of Chaos.

“Her marrying you?” Eris said as she begun to laugh. “Why would a goddess of chaos marry a short guy with a temper problem that even he can’t keep under control?” She said snapping her fingers to have Nicko in a napoleon costume.

“Hell, she’s saved my ass just as much as I saved hers. Plus, she’s honestly the first person to actually understand where I come from and help me understand things I couldn’t understand on my own.” The Rune Slayer replied, looking back at her. “Not to mention that she’s going to be a mother in a few short months.”

“Seriously? Oh this is just too much to bare.” Eris said as she wiped away the tears from her eyes.

“Why are you crying?” He asked, noticing the tears.

“These are tears of laughter, boy. I can’t believe that this goddess of chaos would throw away her freedom for something like this.”

“She’s just as free as I am. You may not be like her, but I see similarities between you two.” The Rune Slayer added on. “Besides, you look cute when you’re not expecting it.”

“I doubt we’re the same seeing how we’re from different worlds.”

“You wouldn’t believe how much you two are similar,” Nicko said as he looked back at her. “If you want, look at my memories and that’s all the proof you need to see.”

“Fine mister high and mighty.” Eris said as she phased her claw into his head. “.......Yep we’re different in many ways. But I do have to admit, she is quite… kinky at times.”

“Yup, that’s only the tip of the iceberg,” He replied, looking back to notice Amy and Applejack heading back in their direction. “Oh hey, there's Amy.”

“Ah if it isn’t my favorite pyromancer human.” Eris said as she wrapped her tail around her. “How’s my favorite little girl doing?”

“Hey Eris, mind putting me down for a bit?” Amy said as the goddess released her. “Thanks, I’m gonna take a nap for a while.”

“Go for it. We’re not stopping you.” Nicko chuckled as he leaped back up on his feet.

“Whatever.” The Blazing Heart said as she walked off to Applejack’s room.

“Poor girl, still not over what happen to her before I sent her here.” Eris said landing on top of Nicko’s head.

“Care to explain?” He asked.

“Well I could tell you…..but I won’t, you have to gather info from the mane six or other random ponies mister detective~”

“Pfft, I was just curious.” He replied, looking back to notice that Applejack was still in the vicinity. “Oh hey there… How can I help you?” He asked politely.

“Granny Smith told me that she wants to talk to you.” That caught the Rune Slayers attention as his expression was not a little more serious.

“Anything specific? Or is it just a general conversation?” He asked, wanting to see if he could know a bit about what exactly he was getting into first before diving headfirst into this conversation.

“Something about my Amy, I don’t know she wasn’t very clear about it. Look just get over there and see what Granny Smith wants from you, okay?” The farm pony said as she had a few words for the Rune Slayer. “If you dare hurt Amy in anyway, you’re gonna regret it shorty.”

“I’m not planning on it,” He sternly replied back with a serious edge in his voice. “Lead the way.”

(Smith resident)

“So you must be this Nicko fella Applebloom mentioned?” Granny Smith asked looking the Rune Slayer up and down.

“Yes ma’am. That’s me,” He replied, stretching out a hand for her to shake. The Elderly mare took the hand and shook it before Nicko then sat down across from her. “How can I help you?”

“It’s more like I need you to help Amy. I don’t know if you notice it, but she’s been kinda depressed and harsh towards certain humans.”

“Depressed?” He asked, thinking back to when he remembered her mentioning that she was the only family member of her family alive. “Who exactly? I didn’t unintentionally do anything now, did I?”

“Possibly thinking that your Amy was the same as ours mister quick to judge shorty.” Applejack mumbled only for her to look away when Granny Smith glanced at her.

“Anyway, I figure you might be able to do something about it. You know talk to her seeing how you seem like a gentlecolt.” She said as Applejack snickered at her comment for a second.

“I can do that. I can tell right away that she’s not like the Amy that I know though, so it might take a minute or two. But I’ll see what I can do.” That surprise was not what Applejack was expecting. At all. But still, Granny Smith was pleased with his answer.

“Glad to hear that, Applejack could you show Nicko to your room please?”

“........Follow me.” Applejack said as she lead the Rune Slayer to her room. Nicko himself focused on breathing calmly as he followed the Earth Pony upstairs to where he heard Amy up there. And it sounded like she was… upset.

“She’s inside….you better not try anything funny or else.” Applejack said as she made him notice the handgun on her hip. “You’re gonna be limping back to where ever you came from.”

“Not planning on it.” He replied, letting Applejack knock on the door.

“If it’s Applejack or the others you can come in, anyone else. LEAVE ME ALONE!” With it, Nicko looked back at AJ, letting her step in first before he followed up. Only getting a few feet through the door when Amy threw a throwing knife at his head. “Oh… it’s you… sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. Mistakes happen,” He replied, looking back at her. “Are you okay? You look a little… stressed.”

“Stress would be the understatement of the situation… but yeah you’re pretty much accurate on how I feel.”

“Would you like to talk about it? AJ and the others are concerned about you Amy… they care for you like family and your really making them worried like this.” He insisted, hoping to get her to open up a little.

“I know and think of them as family as well….but.” Amy clenched the pillow she was holding.

“You’re just concerned about getting them hurt?” He asked, recognizing the way she was acting.

“More like losing another family… again.”

“I know how you feel… my teacher himself was the same way once. He was trying to run from his problems, ignoring the fact that they were a burden that only he could bear… But to me… I’m worried about losing my own family… and the one I’m trying to start. I’m scared Amy, but I don’t let that affect me. You have a strong sense of will… Don’t let your fears wither and break it apart.” He said to him, trying his best to sound understanding.

“It not that. It’s just every time I’m either adopted into a family… something bad always happens to them whenever I get adopted… this happens eight times.”

“But you are luckier than I am… My brother and I were never adopted into a family… and we never knew why. We were just like any other kid, but were always ignored in the process. Coming here, to our Equestria, changed that for us. Unlike back home, we had powers and skills now that we could only dream ourselves of having. You have that too with your flames.” He said to her, opening his hand as he conjured something that surprised her. One of the runic symbols that a Pyro Knight would use.

“Never expected you to use Pyro Knight Magic. Then again.” Amy raised her hand as a blue runic symbols appeared in her hand and began to cover the room. “But you’re only scratching the tip of the iceberg for fire rune magic.”

“Runic magic itself is a rare and incomplete form of magic. Only Starswirl the Bearded himself knew how to use it, but died before discovering it’s full potential.” He said, dismissing the rune. “I’m always trying to do new things with it and come up with new combinations. In doing so, I stay ahead of the pack. You don’t need to be bound by rules when it comes to magic… Sometimes you just need to break a few.”

“Basic magic 101. Question, why is Applejack pissed off towards you?”

“She thinks that when she called me short and I got a little… mad that somehow I was going to hurt you.” Nicko replied back, motioning his head towards the holster at Applejack’s hip. “See what I mean?”

“Well you were about to attack her if my other self didn’t stop you. So you can understand how Applejack feels at that moment… it kinda makes you a bit untrustworthy at times.”

“I noticed. Still, it doesn’t mean that I would be pulling off any stupid sh*t anytime soon. I know better than to do that.”

“Dude you almost hit a girl, that pretty much say something. Not that I wouldn’t do that same in your shoes, but you need to get that temper of yours under control.”

“Right… You familiar with Fullmetal Alchemist? Well, I’m like my own version of Edward Elric. It’s a given.” He replied, straightening up a little. “Still though, you seem pretty confident in your powers now, are you?”

“To some degree, but be over confident is something I’m not trying to be like a certain other red head… how are you friends with her without trying to kill her?”

“Because I feel like I’m the voice of reason at times. Back home, she’s banned from Canterlot.” That part… got the Blazing Heart a little curious as she raised an eyebrow.

“What, did she blow the place up?” Amy said jokingly, only to notice his facial expression. “Oh god, how is she not in jail for doing something like that?”

“Technically, it happened while fighting her undead asshole of a father and her hyperactive skill did the rest.” Nicko replied. “Let me ask you something… are you familiar with Hellsing Ultimate Abridged?”

“Say no more. You pretty much answer twenty of my questions about her.”

“She’s basically Alucard. She even did the emerging from the wall trick during a presentation that Twilight was holding, shouting out HEY KIDS, WANNA SEE A DEAD BODY! I’m just surprised that she hasn’t tried doing that on the townsfolk here yet.”

“...I’m not gonna lie but that’s kinda funny.”

Nicko chuckled at that, looking back at her as something else came to mind. But first, he wanted to ask something. “Feeling a little better?” He asked her, waiting to hear out her response before asking the next question.

“Surprisingly yes.”

“Well, I wanted to ask you something then. I was curious to see what you were capable of, so I was going to ask if you wanted to do a small practice spar. Maybe we can learn a few tricks from one another.” He suggested, looking back at her and waiting for her answer.

“Hm… okay, I’m up for a little sparring match. It even help me with test drive Azure Mode after meeting Eris.”

“Alright, I’m good for that… If it’s okay with Applejack of course.” He said, remembering that she was still in the room with them.

“I’ll allow it seeing how it would be interesting see you flank getting handed to you little man.” The mare said, causing Nicko to chuckle a little. Funny thing was, he wasn’t as angry as normal with being referred to his height anymore. Mostly because he was saving that anger for when the sparring was to begin. Besides, he was a bit curious to see this… azure mode that Amy had spoken about. Possibly find a way to counter it using the [Examine] ability from his teacher Ryu. Many possibilities were at play here, but for right now, as Cell from Dragon Ball Z would say… it was time for him to warm up.

“Oh trust me, I’m not going down so easy. A kaiser taught me how to fight. Now, shall we take this outside?” He asked, preparing to walk downstairs and off of the orchard so none of the Apple Trees would end up as collateral damage in the process.

“Pretty much… in an open field would do.”

“Alright, I’m guessing you have a perfect idea for where the field is?” Nicko asked. His question was answered five minutes after they stepped out of the barn, walking towards the nearest open field on the opposite side of town. Of course, this one was close to the nearby lake that Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash liked to swim in on occasion during the summer. Now it served as a perfect sparring ground for both of them. “Well, this is going to work out nicely.”

“This should be interesting.” Eris said as she summoned a bag of popcorn. “I wonder how this will turn out?” Applejack took up a seat right next to the chaos spirit as the two of them watched Amy prepare herself. That was when Nicko said something that made him almost sound like he was overconfident.

“Alright… So here’s the deal… I want you to hit me as hard as you can.”

“Okay-.”

“No no… I think you might’ve misheard me… Not half as hard or a certain percentage… I want you… to hit me… as hard as you can…” That got Amy to feel a little annoyed, but also curious as to what exactly was this kid trying to do.

“And if I don’t play along?”

“Well, I guess Eris was right about you-.”

“Fine I’ll play along, mister hot head.” Amy said as she cracked her neck and place a runic symbol on her arms and legs. “Let’s get a good feel at how hard your defenses are.” Amy said as she launched herself at Nicko, readying a haymaker upside his head. Only when she made contact that Nicko didn’t move at all. Instead, he just shrugged it off and looked back at her.

“Okay… I know what you said wasn’t suppose to sound sexual… but it’s going to take a lot more then that to break me.” With it, he disappeared right in front of Amy’s eyes as he then caught her off guard with a well placed Splash Explosion that sent her skidding a few feet before she jumped back up. The amount of power in just a simple spell… and how fast he was on his feet caught both Applejack and Eris’ attention as Amy adopted another stance..

“Great, I’m dealing with those type of people. As if fighting against Silver wasn’t bad enough.” Amy said as she looked at the fire rune symbols on her body. “Guess I’ll have to take this serious then. Eris!”

“You called?” Eris asked appearing in next to the blazing heart.

“Auto pilot.”

“You sure? You remember what happened the last time when I did that against that Eric person?”

“Normally I wouldn’t do something like this, but seeing how I’m dealing with someone like Nicko. Then yeah.” Eris looked at Nicko for a moment before entering into Amy’s head. At first there was moment of silence, that is until Amy opened her eyes and glanced at the Rune Slayer. “Alright, don’t blame me if you feel sore in the morning Amy.”

“This must be Azure Mode.” Nicko thought to himself, preparing for what came next by summoning the blade Rovaniik. The one that had Neltharion’s token infused into it and also allowed for him to bend the earth to his will. “Well, better safe than sorry. She might be unpredictable in this form.”

“For the record, this isn’t Azure Mode.” Amy said as she shot a concentrated beam of fire past Nicko’s face, only to slightly burn his cheek.

“Well, then time to switch it up.” He said, dismissing Rovaniik as he then proceeded to summon Ebalon instead, followed by casting Critical Sword. “Show me what you can do.”

“With pleasure.” She said as a blade of fire shot from her hand and landed next to Nicko. The Rune Slayer smirked, using his foot to kick the blade back towards Amy as he ran forward and clashed his sword the moment that Amy had a firm grip on her weapon. “Don’t think that’s going to work on me.” Amy said as she sword flew through her. “Master of fire, which means I can do this.” With a snap of her finger, an explosion set off on Nicko’s left leg. “I give you credit on having a good outer defense but internal defense is a different story.”

“Heh… Your point?” He said, catching Eris by surprise by headbutting her and following up with a fist full of fire. “I’ve dealt with that kind of damage before. It’s not new to me.”

“Cute, but I doubt you can keep up the tough act with multiple damage to your internal organs.” She said, setting of a small chain of explosions in his chest. “Even you have your limits.”

“True… but there’s a catch… I’m not using full strength… To be fair… it’s only 15 percent.” He smirked, grabbing her by the shoulder. “Plus, I have you right where I want you.” With that, Eris watched as with a snap of his finger, the Rune Slayer cast Storm Blade as a whirling tower of blades caught her by surprise, causing her to escape backwards and separate herself from the Rune Slayer as now more of his magic began to radiate from him, healing some of his scars.

“Well, I guess that’s enough for a warm up.” He smirked, cracking his knuckles.

“Come on Amy! Knock that little punk off his feet!” yelled Applejack.

Nicko himself ignored Applejack’s taunts as he looked back at Amy, adopting a new stance as he prepared himself in wait for Amy’s next move. “Whenever you’re ready…” He said eagerly.

Amy snapped her finger as her claymore changed into an Azure colored katana. “Single Sword Style.” She said closing her eyes and placing a hand on her sword.

“Here it comes…” Nicko grinned, resummoning Rovaniik and dismissing Ebalon. With a single step, both parties advanced forward as their blades collided with one another. Nicko noticed though that there was more force behind Amy’s counterattacks than before and with that, he needed to be cautious.

“Return of the Swallow!” Amy yelled as three blades appeared from out of nowhere and headed toward the Rune Slayer, only for him barely parry away two of the unexpected blades while the third grazed past his forehead. The Rune Slayer skidded backwards, but he had his own surprise for Amy.

“Rising Slash!” He spoke, just as a series of blades materialized from the ground, striking Amy and causing her to lose balance.

“Not over yet.” She said as she shook her head as red flakes appeared around them. All Nicko did was cross his arms, with an expression of him not being amused as he pointed upward… to the huge Luna Blade that he had formed above them during the course of the fight. He was charging it throughout the entire match like a spirit bomb and now, it was gunning towards Amy. “Don’t think that’s going to stop me. I got you right where I want you. ”

It was then that he noticed the petals around him… and how they smelled like they were burning. “Ah son of a taint…”

“Teostra Fangs!” Amy yelled as she bit on of the fire flakes, causing a huge explosion the engulfed both of them. As the smoke covered the field though, Amy felt a stone slab slam her around her ribcage, causing her to stagger. Nicko himself was still standing… but most of his sleeveless shirt was just about gone and he left his jacket back at the orchard.

“Really? You had to just annihilate my shirt? Thank god you didn’t go overboard and burned my pants off while you were at it.”

“Had I use orange flakes then yeah.” Amy said as she felt Eris appear from out of herself. Nicko sighed a little, dismissing his blade as he looked back at Applejack before looking back at Amy.

“So… guess we’ll call this a draw?”

“Pretty much yeah seeing how I’m sure you don’t have an extra pair of clothing on you at the moment?”

“I left my coat back at the barn. It should help me once we get back.” Nicko shrugged. “Speaking of which, hopefully my Amy and Amelia had found what they were looking for so we can get back home. We… kind of have our hands full.”

“We have returned with the item in question.” Amelia said as she and Amy appeared half beat up… well Amy at least.

“And why does Amy looked like a beat up punching bag again? Did you use her as bait?” The Rune Slayer asked the Diabolic Esper.

“More or less but we got the El Shard that we need.” Amy said as she tossed Nicko’s coat to him, with he caught and soon put back on.

“Alright… guess there’s only one thing left before we gotta go back home.” He said, taking out a Rune Slayer’s mark as he handed it to the Blazing Heart. “This is my summoning token. If you need me, just use it and I’ll come. Amy has one as well that she can give to you to.”

“She already gave me her’s a few minutes ago.”

“Ah alright… Did she help you make yours by any chance?” He then asked her, looking back at the Crimson Avenger for a moment.

“No, other displaced appeared before you three came here that taught me how to make it.” The Rune Slayer breathed a sigh of relief, seconds before he caught something that the Blazing Heart threw at him with an open hand.

“Here’s my token if you need my assistance.”

“Thanks again for everything,” Nicko complimented her as he summoned Void Edge and used one slice to tear a hole in the void as he turned towards his Amy and Amelia. “Ready to go back home?”

“Thank Celestia that he’s leaving.” Applejack said as she helped the Blazing Heart up.

“I’m standing right here,” he deadpanned, looking back at his friends. “I’ll tell my AJ you said hello.”

“Oh I forgot you were there due to your size. Almost made me mistaken you as a small scarecrow.”

“Oh ha ha… very funny there, AJ.” Nicko chuckled. “You’re the only pony that can call me little that I can actually tolerate. Which is a first.” With that, he soon leaped through the tear in the void as his Amy and Amelia soon followed after them as they went back home.

“Hey Nicko, do you smell something?” Amy asked as she sniffed the air around her. The Rune Slayer shook his head for a moment, sniffing the air as they stepped out into the living room of his home.

“Not exactly… why, do you smell something?”

“I don’t know.” She said as she notice his pants were on fire. “Why don’t you tell me hot pants?” Looking down, he then groaned as he used his magic to conjure the fire before dismissing it. Only problem though was that shortly afterwards, Eris wandered over to see that Nicko and Amy had returned… in the most surprising of fashions.

“So… is this what happens when another Amy tries to go after you?” She asked. “Just wait until the twins come.”

“Wait… TWINS!?”

“... Apparently somepony didn’t get the Memo… you’re going to be auntie for three kids Amy,” The Rune Slayer informed her, looking back and noticing her blush a little. “Welcome to parenthood.”

“.......I’m out.” Amy said as she walked towards the door. But the second she tried to open it, Rainbow Dash bolted in and slammed the door against the wall, flattening the Crimson Avenger like she was a door sandwich.

“Well now… there’s the new couple… Congratulations on having kids… But where’s Amy?”

Nicko facepalmed as the door slowly closed behind, looking at a defeated Amy as he deadpanned to the pegasus. “... You are not exactly the best Role Model now, aren’t you?”

“Said the boy who almost attacked a mare because she called you short.”

“It was a mistake… you slammed Amy into a door… but now is my turn to ask something… why do you smell odd Rainbow?” His question only caused the pegasi’s wings to flare out on their own as she looked back at the Rune Slayer, blushing a little.

“N-None of your business!”

“Come on Rainbow, we’re family here and sometimes, we can be concerned…” It was then that Eris whispered in Nicko’s ear just as Amy was coming back around. “Oh I see… Amy… you might want to hear this…”

“And what would that be?”

“Your marefriend here is in heat.” Eris replied, chuckling a little as she watched the Pegasi’s reaction as the blush on her face grew a bright red. “And her reaction is just adorable…”

“...... Be back in a few days.” Amy said as she grabbed Rainbow Dash and rushed off to their home in the clouds. “OUT OF MY JERKASSES!”

Nicko and Eris just watched as they stampeded back into the clouds as Amy tried to use Rainbow Dash as a battering ram it break into their own home. “Something tells me that we’re not going to sleep peacefully for the next few days… especially since their house is almost directly above ours.”

“More like weeks but I’ll place soundproof bubble over their house later.” Amelia said as she eyed Nicko. “Anyway, back to important matters.”

“Right… We now have the Dark El Shard, but it’ll still be almost a few weeks before Ran is out… Glave told me one thing that we needed to do though in order to get ready and that is to meet other Displaced and gain allies to prepare for war.” The Rune Slayer replied, noticing a scroll on the table with a familiar monkey insignia on it as he walked over to pick it up. “And I think I just found the perfect place to start.”

“Sun and Weiss huh, been keeping my eyes on them for sometime now.”

“Well, it seems like more than that… Check this out.” He replied, turning the letter around as a few words stood out amongst the rest of the text.

You are invited to come and see the first school for Dimensionally Misplaced… Beacon Academy.

End Log 21

Log 22- Ground Zero

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Author's Notes:

WARNING!!! This chapter is going to tie into future spoilers for my RWBY displaced, Monkey Business along with a few of the Displaced that are mentioned and serve as both students and teachers of Beacon Academy. They are as followed.

Students and Teachers (At this point):
-Leona and Rena (Life as a Displaced Digimon + The Fox and the Filly).
-Team CFVY (Monkey Business)
-Team ABRN (Monkey Business)
-Penny (Monkey Business)
-Asphyxious (A Lich of Metal and Souls)
-Jack (A Displaced Spectrobes Master)
-Craig
-Sun Wukong

Future teachers and students will arrive later on so stay tuned for that. Oh and expect some fun surprises to come for both the school and Nicko in the future. Oh and spring break for me is next week and hopefully, I can introduce two new stories. One displaced and another one I did for fun xP

Stay Classy
-Frost

Of Magic and Machines- Ground Zero

Nicko’s home

Now, for the Rune Slayer to think about going to Beacon Academy was not by coincidence. A few days earlier, he and Faith were invited to a special Displaced Christmas celebration and with that, he had heard from Sun Wukong about his idea for a Beacon Academy. The letter he had received was just confirmation that he had followed through with the plan. The Rune Slayer was just as curious as to how accurate the school was to the actual academy in RWBY. Matter of fact, he was curious as to who Sun had chosen to be part of the school’s faculty. Maybe if Ran was dealt with, he and Anson could become instructors. But he had to wait and see on that first.

Shortly after telling Eris and Moondancer of his plans, along with Faith and his family for added measure, Nicko stepped outside and was going to prepare to open the gateway to Beacon. But upon opening up the doorway with Void edge and using the insignia for added measure, a loud and familiar voice caught him by surprise.

“Welcome to Beacon Academy!” Yelled a man with a red coat and had a dragon tail. That man was all too familiar. Especially since he remembered him chasing Sun around like a drunken maniac “My name is Asphy Hell, it nice to meet you!” Asphyxious said with a loud and booming voice. He must’ve taken a few verbal cues with the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Well…” The Rune Slayer said to himself, seeing Sun in the same room along with a few other Displaced he recognized. “Time to surprise them… Maybe take a page from Amy’s book.” With it, he backed up before running towards the doorway at full speed.

Beacon Academy

“Hey Asphy,” The Monkey Faunus asked him, looking at the Lich as he looked around a little. “Do you hear that?”

“Now that I think about it… I do.” Asphyxious said looking around as well. It was then that something surged from behind the digimon displaced named Leona as a red blur with a familiar tone.

“Mine Mine Mine Mine Mine Mine MINE!!” The Rune Slayer emerged, knocking Asphyxious backwards and then straightening up a little. “Mine…… That was from Amy.” Looking around, Asphyxious just laughed as he set back up.

“Nice move.” He said as Asphyxious dusts himself off. “But I think we need to share names before we move on to the real fun. Don’t you agree?”

“Bro… It’s me… Nicko? From the christmas party?”

“I know that, I mean tell them.” Asphyxious said pointing at all the displaced staring at them. Nicko sighed, scratching the back of the head.

“Ah right… Name’s Nicko Nocte. Rune Slayer and a friend of Sun Wukong… Asphy here is an acquaintance.”

“Oh don’t be like that, we’re best friends.” Asphyxious said as he put an arm around Nicko. The look the lich was giving was kind of creepy.

“Says the guy who went on a drunken rampage the only time I’ve seen you.” Nicko replied. “So, what exactly are you teaching?” With that, he saw Sun straighten up as his marefriend trotted up next to him.

“Asphyxious was just talking about teamwork when it comes to combat practice.” Sun replied, giving Nicko a crazy idea as he looked back at the Faunus with a grin.

“Oh I see… If you want… I can help them. I would love to see how these guys work together if they tried to come at me.” He told them, smiling a little. “How much free space would we need to practice out in the open?”

“I believe the combat grounds are open now. Also it’ll give me a chance to collect some data.” Asphyxious said smiling under his hood. Sun though, had another idea for the class as he looked at them.

“I got an idea… We’ll make it a survival training course. Nicko, both you and the students will have three hours to make preparations and afterwards, we’ll have the students come at you, where you will be stationed somewhere in the Everfree. A combat arena like the one on campus would not provide enough space for Nicko, who uses any opportunity he gets to turn the tables.”

“Ryu would be proud if he were here.” Nicko smirked, looking at Leona and the rest of the class. “I’m on board with it… is everyone else? Or are they too chicken to even consider it?”

“On be nice to them, this is their first day after all. We can’t expect them to win right off the bat.” Asphyxious said calmly.

“Right… but remember, Beacon’s initiation exam?”

“Oh yes that was fun.” Asphyxious smiled after saying that. “I enjoyed planning that out.”

“Question, is that kid fireproof?” Leona asked, pointing at Nicko.

“Oh trust me, I’m not sure if a little rookie can beat me so easily.” He grinned, looking at the students, including Ruby and Weiss that were higher up in the room… and the Renamon next to Leona.

“Challenge accepted.” Leona declared, jumping on the desk. Only for the Renamon to yank her down off of there.

“Don’t mind her… This is normal.”

“By the way how that Eris girl doing?” Asphyxious asked Nicko as the Rune Slayer took a deep breath.

“She’s good. She has to cut back on void travel though for… reasons.” The warrior responded, only causing Asphyxious to become even more curious. “I’ll go get set up. Hope you guys are ready, because this is going to be fun.”

“I’ll look forward to the results.” Asphyxious called after him with a smile. With that, Nicko began to get to work. He started off by walking towards the riverbed and collecting all the decent size stones that he could find, etching runes on them before hiding them in numerous places around the everfree. Some that he could activate on his own while others being motion sensored. Next up, he used Rovaniik, the blade with Neltharion’s token infused in it to set up some defenses.

“Alright… that was way too easy.” He grinned, sounding a little overconfident while he was speaking. Out of the three hours he needed to prepare, it only took him two and a half to get ready… with a lot of “bonuses” that he had place, just for Sun’s students. He had a feeling that Asphyxious was watching him, given the fact that he saw a spyglass on his belt and other bits of gear around his waist. So he lifted his hand in the air, giving a thumbs up symbol and signaling that he was ready.

“Alright he's ready.” Asphyxious said as he gave the thumbs up to Sun as he watches on one of the roofs of Beacon.

“Really? He’s a bit early. Ah what the hell, some of the students were getting a little… eager to get started.” The Faunus replied as he turned to see that Rena, the Renamon that was there was holding up Leona by her wings like she was a misbehaving child. Turning around, he looked at everyone as he noticed two to three familiar teams joining the others. “Alright, everyone. We’re ahead of schedule, so here’s how this is going to work. This exercise is to practice your teamwork along with your survival skills. My friend has prepared himself for you to come at him with everything he’s got, but do not let your guard down. He’ll be sure to have a few surprise for all of you.” He then cleared his throat as he looked back at them. “Any questions?”

“I got the popcorn!” Asphyxious called from the roof.

A portal then opened in the sky as a spaceship came through and landed next to the group. As soon as it landed a door opened in back and lowered a ramp which a redhead wearing white armor walked out of. “Sorry I’m late…” He sighed as he walked over to Sun.

“Glad you can make it Jack.” Sun replied, noticing an outstretched hand from Coco of team CFVY. “Yes Coco?”

“What are we doing?” Coco asked, slightly annoyed.

“Simple… Like in the initiation exam, Nicko has a collection of Relics where he would be. However, he only gives out the relics to those who beat him in combat.”

“Why do we have to do this?” Coco questioned. “I’m not part of your pet project school.”

“We are doing this so the professors can analyze your skills both on your own and in teams. Asphy just thought that you would want the chance to shoot some stuff without being chewed out by the guards.”

“What the hell, count me in.” Coco shrugged. Fox massaged his temples in annoyance. “There any time limits?”

“Right now, it is only an hour before noon. I’m giving you all the way til Sundown and a little afterwards to get this done. So in total… 8 hours. How you make your approach is entirely up to you.” With that, the faunus took one of his weapons and aimed it into the air. “This begins… now-.”

“Why am I here?” Reese asked, glaring at Sun. “I never wanted to help you... Or be near any of you idiots.”

“Technically… you’re students… not fugitives.” He fired off the shot, signaling the start of the exercise as Reese raced past him, almost knocking him over in the process as everyone else ran straight out the gate. Leona herself thought that flying would give her a head start. But upon entering the everfree, something warm began to glow under her feet.

“Clever…” Leona muttered before being flung into the outer atmosphere by an explosion. Rena, the Renamon that was there soon realized what was happening once she stepped on one.

“Oh… Landmines… Wait LAND-!?” She shouted before being launched backwards into Sugarcube Corner.

“Holy Sh*t, he planted landmines!!”

Somewhere in the distance, the Rune Slayer smirked as he laid back at the old ruins in the Everfree. “Well, looks like they found the landmines.”

“Oh my god, HE PLANTED LANDMINES!?!” Sun reacted as he, Asphyxious and Fluttershy all saw what was happening. With the only response being nearby from one of the others that was with him.

“Don’t you walk your dogs out there?” Jack asked, staring at the explosions in surprise.

Fluttershy whined in response to Jack’s comment, realizing the kind of danger that her animals would be in.. “Oh Angel Bunny… Please be okay.”

“Huh, landmines. I’ll have to use that idea for my next lesson.” Asphyxious said eating some popcorn. Only causing Sun to facepalm as the thought of possible safety lectures for the Beacon staff lingered in his head.

Reese just hovered over the field with her board, giving everyone behind her the middle finger. “Later losers!”

Coco picked Fox up by the collar of his shirt. “Go long!”

“Wait! Coco, think abou-” Fox was cut off as he was thrown across ninety feet, which she repeated with the rest of her team.

As for Reese though, her ride was short lived when a wire that she cut with her board lead to a tree branch smacking her in the face. Nicko himself, noticing Coco’s attempt to throw her friends towards the goal just smirked a little. “Is it just me or did they forget the huge basin gap with the bridge?”

Coco jumped on one of the mines and used it to propel herself into her team, sending them farther. Only for a series of Aquamarine swords to fly past them while they were airborne. Sun saw this and then looked back at Asphyxious and Jack as he sighed.

“No offense to Nicko, but he’s being awfully casual about this… I mean as casual as usual, but isn’t he dealing with an initiation exam mixed together with overwhelming odds and possible Angry birds scenarios given Coco’s approach?”

“It all depends on who he fights first and who can last long enough for there team mates to show up. But they're not fighting as a team, Nicko planned this all out from the start.” Asphyxious said calmly.

“True. He was possibly for them to plan some kind of tactical assault, but instead had to deal with a frontal attack with a bunch of idiots walking into enemy territory,” Sun replied as he took some popcorn with his tail.

“Who knows what kinds of traps and other plans he’s laid ahead of them” Asphyxious replied eating some popcorn to. “Attacking mindless like that won’t get them anywhere.”

“Um… if it makes him feel any better…” Fluttershy momentarily squeaked as he looked up in the sky. “There’s a giant meteor in the sky.” That caused both Sun and Asphyxious to look at each other and for the Faunus to almost choke on his popcorn as he saw what she was talking about.

“Did we put a limit on what the students could use?” Asphyxious asked Sun.

“I…… don’t think so… Wait a second…” Sun said, using Asphyxious’ spyglass to look at the falling meteorite. “Holy sh*t, that’s Leona.”

Meanwhile...

Leona was ticked, she HATED sneak attacks and this one had flung her into SPACE of all things! But then an idea came to her… and she smirked demonically. “That organic had it coming to him~” A bright flash enveloped her as she began orbital re-entry while Digivolving. While doing so, she could only think of four words.

Stand by for Titanfall.

From the ground though, Nicko watched as he saw the fireball emerge from orbit. But one thing was on his mind… and it was not what anyone else would think. “Isn’t that fireball heading straight towards Canterlot?” However, the second that he turned back around was when he found something just barely missing his face. Turning around to find that same fireball heading straight towards him.

“Oh sh*t, they figured out the landmines!!!”

“Oh Sun, one of them figured out the landmines.” Asphyxious looking through the spyglass.

“Thank god for that. At least he’s not completely insane…… completely being the operative word.” Sun sighed as Fluttershy was leaning next to him.

“Flame Dive!” Shouted Leona’s voice as the fireball in the sky suddenly redirected and began approaching Nicko’s position at a rapidly increasing speed. Nicko thought he would have to barrel roll out of the way, only to realize where exactly Leona was going to land.

Face first into a stone wall.

Meanwhile though, while Sun and Asphyxious were watching the explosion that went off from Leo breaking the sound barrier, the Faunus noticed that Fluttershy was shivering a little. Not because she was cold though… but because she was nervous at something she needed to tell her coltfriend. “Fluttershy… is something wrong?” The Pegasus just looked back, a little nervous to the point where she was catching Asphyxious and Jack’s attention in doing so.

“Sun… there’s something I need to tell you…” She said to him, causing Asphyxious to raise an eyebrow and for Sun to do the same thing. She soon laid herself along the Faunus’ chest as she said two words that stunned him. “I’m…… pregnant.”

Asphyxious laughed. “Good job, Sun!” He said as the lich laughed and pat the faunus on the back. The faunus didn’t quite know what to say, but smiled as he deeply pulled Fluttershy in a hug.

“F-fluttershy… I’m so happy to hear that… We’re going to be parents-.” Before he could finish his sentence, the three of them heard a loud and violent explosion go off as the level of magic in the area was rising rapidly.

“Huh, good thing we set up that barrier around Beacon before hand.” Asphyxious said calmly.

“Yeah… but haven’t you notice that the magic is… from Nicko?”

“What did I miss?” Jack asked as he walked over before freezing at the sight of the giant red mushroom cloud in the middle of the everfree.

“I see now, he added his runes on top of mine.” Asphyxious said rubbing his chin.

At ground zero, Leona was pissed. But she had believed that the nuclear like explosion that she had set off would definitely have taught the redhead a lesson. That was… when the smoke began to clear and she heard him speak.

“You know… You would be a bit intimidating… heh… if you were actually intimidating.” He snickered, unsheathing his blade as he prepared himself. “I haven’t been able to go all out like that in a long time… don’t disappoint me.”

“What did you say, short stack?” Leo growled, her dragon and lion hybrid like appearance tensing for an attack.

“I said that you aren’t intimidating you overgrown mutant Aslan!” Nicko growled back, his runes channeling around him.

“You're a dead dwarf, kid!” Leo shouted, a dark mist gathering around her.

“Oh really now!? This is just getting even more EXCITING!!”

“Grr… Are you mocking me!?” Leona shouted. Only getting Nicko to chuckle a little as he stared her down.

“Oh no no no no… Pfft, yeah!” He snarled, his magic glowing a dark blood red as he held his weapon over his shoulder. “Ladies first.”

Leona’s eyes turned pitch black as she fired a fireball at Nicko from her mouth, “Die organic!”

All Nicko did was growl a little as he let out an ear piercing howl that would sound like a dragon roaring as he dived through the flames and attacked Leona head on.

“Sun… I think we should call the other students back… Just until these two are done with their fighting.” Asphyxious said calmly watching the two fight. “You know... for their safety.”

“Or place a barrier around where they are for now. You can do that right?”

“It’ll be on the fly but I can try.”Asphyxious said as he stands up and start casted a spell then teleported away. Sun himself just hoping that Asphyxious wasn’t too late as he held Fluttershy closer to him. Afraid to let her go in fear that the fight would spill out in this direction.

Once Asphyxious was close to the fighting he started casting spells to make a barrier around them. The only downside was he could not use other spells or leave. All he could hope for was nothing go wrong. As the barrier go up and seal them off.

“Oh, so you’re trying to stop us?” Coco said. She was badly hurt, burn marks all over her as well as scabs. “Fine then!” She opened fire on him.

“Oh crap, this’ll make things harder and a little fun.” Asphyxious said drawing his cutlass as he took cover. “Trust me you don’t want that barrier down.”

Velvet was playing with her camera, and took a picture of Coco’s weapon. She Played around a bit with it, before putting it away. A digital-like replica appeared in her hands. “Sun was right…”

“I’m jealous…” Fox said, crossing his arms.

Asphyxious was going to try and reason with them, but it was in that moment that he heard a draconic roar set off from the other side of the barrier. Loud enough and powerful enough to cause the surrounding trees to topple to the ground.

“Well that’s bad, don’t know that was but sounds like me when I’m pissed.” Asphyxious said to himself. Only to soon see Leona’s champion form crash into the barrier that was set up and the Aura of Destruction around the Rune Slayer.

“Never… CALL ME… A DWARF!!!” He roared, startling Asphyxious.

“Now you see why the barrier up.” Asphyxious told them.

“Wait, you’re not part of it?” Fox asked.

“No I’m not, I’m here to make sure these two don’t mix you all up in their rampage and get hurt.” Asphyxious replied as he turned towards the two of them as they were duking it out inside. However… one thing soon scared the Lich as Nicko sent a rune towards Leona.

A rune that when it went off, caused a crack to form in the barrier. “That’s not good, I’ll need to use more magic to keep this up. Can you guys tell the others to not fight me or bring the barrier down?” Asphyxious asked as he walked up to the barrier and put his hands on it.

It was then thought that he saw something whisk by his field of vision while on the other side. Something that one of the others recognized. It was the Renamon that was with Leona earlier, who was observing the fight from the treetops. Only then did Asphyxious realize one huge blunder.

He left her stuck inside. And she had no way out. “SH*T!” Asphyxious yelled trying to think of a way out for her without dropping the barrier. But one glare from the Renamon caused him to think otherwise. Like she was trying to tell him not to do anything stupid.

Back to the fight…

“Aww… is that all you got you overgrown furball?” Nicko taunted, backpedaling as he conjured two fire runes to create a diversion as Leona tried striking him with another one of her flame dives.

“I’m warning you… Say ONE more thing…” Leona hissed, the dark mist around her suddenly beginning to condense.

“Uh… hi…?” Nicko spoke, trying to see how far she actually was going to go with it.

Leona jumped at Nicko, trying to bite his face off in a blind rage. Nicko prepared his sword to counter, but soon realized one problem. The remainder of his Aura of Destruction had been consumed with conjuring the two fire runes from before. Now was when he was back to normal. And again… Vulnerable. “Oh you have got to be sh*tting me…”

Just as he said that though and when Leona was just about closing in, Nicko heard something in the distance that he did not expect. Digimodify: Zudomon Hammer. With it, Leona turned around, only to have the side of her skull get smashed by an overgrown hammer with electricity forming around it, flying through the barrier and into the ocean on the other side of the continent. When Nicko got back up, he was surprised to see Rena… along with a Small filly.

“Are you hurt Mister?” She asked, Rena looking back at the Rune Slayer as she then spoke up. “You must have some major stones in order to make Leona dark digivolve like that.”

“What are stones, Rena?”

“I’ll tell you later Sweetie Belle.” The Renamon sighed as he looked at the Rune Slayer.

“Well sh*t… you really saved my ass there.” He smiled, chuckling a little. But seeing Rena’s expression not changing soon grew some concern. “She’s not done is she?”

“Far from it.” Rena told him as her partner began to slide another card as the Renamon began to digivolve. “Tell me something… How likely do you think that you’re going to actually survive this planned exercise?”

“Well, that’s probably going to be just as likely as Asphyxious not chewing my ass off for going overboard… so yeah, we’re ****ed aren’t we?”

“Right in the down under.” Rena replied as she saw Leona rise up in the distance. “If we could get me close enough, I can get her to stop. But… if I think she’s going to turn into what I think she’ll be… then we’re as good as dead.”

“Dark digivolution complete…” A disembodied voice droned before the ground began to shake. Rena then showed a picture of the form that she was going to turn into. It was one that Nicko had seen before… and was almost shocked upon first glance.

“You’re kidding me… SkullGreymon!?” Nicko snapped as he looked back in the direction of Leona. “God, this is not how I want to die.”

There was then a loud roar that caused the entire Everfree to fall eerily silent. Shortly after the ground began to shake more violently before a giant dragon like being made of bones charged into the clearing.

“Thankfully… I was prepared for any sneak attacks.” Nicko sighed, snapping a finger as it triggered a chain reaction. The ground beneath the ultimate digimon glowed as another explosion went off, but barely damaging it. “So… the plan is to stall it?”

“Yes, given how Leona has no control over it… She’ll last only two minutes.” The Kyubimon told him. “May I make a suggestion on how to play this out?”

“Uh… Okay?”

“Run.” The Kyubimon said as she darted off in the direction of Asphyxious and the others. The SkullGreymon roared as it swiped one of its bony hands at Nicko, not paying attention to Rena.

“Woah! Hey, you kiss your mother with that mouth!?” Nicko taunted, using one of his own mines to gain propulsion. He honestly thought he saw Asphyxious playing something on a jukebox in the distance as he jumped of. “I swear to god, Asphy. If you dare play any Jurassic Park music, I’m going to wreck your face!!”

Meanwhile Asphyxious was thinking about Jurassic park music and didn’t know why. It was then that he actually saw SkullGreymon and his jaw metaphorically dropped to the floor. Nicko though, was beginning to see a blur of white as a few sigils began to glow on the ground, trapping the digimon with Ice. It was then that Nicko actually saw who it was and he was caught off guard.

Weiss Schnee.

The digimon was caught off guard by suddenly being encased in ice, but it soon noticed where it came from and its eyes began to glow with rage having been denied its prey.

Nicko was thankful for the quick save. But… that only lasted for a short while as the Ice Queen redirected her attention to him… and prepared to attack “Oh come on!!”

“3… 2… 1.” The sound of the ice breaking and the all too familiar sound of a certain semblance caught the Rune Slayer by surprise as both Ruby and Weiss now stood in front of him… But Ruby had made one particular mistake. Something you never do around Nicko unless you knew what you were dealing with.

“Who’s the little cutie?” It was then that something… different happened.

“I don’t know if I should attack you for calling me little or be flattered.”

“You even think about doing that and you be picking your teeth up from the ground.” Weiss said as she glared at the Rune Slayer standing next to Ruby in defense.

“Okay, nevermind.” Nicko said. “Well, now that Leona is dealt with for now… You two are aware of the rules of the challenge right?”

The ice around the Skullgreymon suddenly disintegrated from around it. “Dark shot!” The missile on its back launched into the air suddenly before coming at Nicko. But it was then that he did something that startled even the Digimon. He didn’t run. All he did was say one word.

“[Examine]” He said simply, a familiar glow in his eye as the missile made contact. To Leona’s surprise now, Nicko was pouring a large amount of mana into a replication of the missile as he shot it back at her. “Runic shot!” The blast made contact with the Digimon and canceled out, suddenly there was a bright flash of energy and once it cleared all that remained was a unconscious Sunmon.

“Well, that happened.” Nicko replied, picking up the Sunmon and noticing Rena as she caught the in training digimon before running off. “Okay, now what’s next?” He asked as he turned back towards Ruby and Weiss. “Oh and before I forget, thank you for saving my flank when I needed it.”

“You’re welcome… question what is that thing I just encased in ice earlier?” asked Weiss.

“Well… that is a student gone into rage mode… and before I forget,” The Rune Slayer replied. “As a token of appreciation, you two get the first relics that you need to bring back to complete the challenge.” With it, he handed two chess pieces. One being a queen and the other a king.

That when the barrier fell and an angry Asphyxious was glaring at the Rune Slayer and digimon. “You two are in so much TROUBLE!” He roared at them as his shadow cover all the ground around him and going up trees.

“Sorry Asphyxious, I just got carried away.” Nicko apologized as he looked at Ruby and Weiss. “If anything, these two finished the challenge first.”

“Carried away?” Asphyxious asked as his eye twitched. “Oh… I’ll show you CARRIED AWAY!” He roared at him as he turned into his dragon form.

“Asphyxious… I was only using 40% strength. Please calm down-.”

“Whoa! Talk about puff the magic dragon!” Ruby said as she appeared on Asphyxious’s head.

“Ruby!!!” The Rune Slayer facepalmed.

“BEACON, NOW!” Asphyxious roared at them up rooting trees.

“Aw, but I wanna ride you into battle!”

“Later…” Asphyxious said calming down a little.

“Okay, can we not make that sound sexual?! Asphyxious is… kind of a pervert.” Nicko whispered the last part so Asphyxious couldn’t hear it.

A voice then laughed in the distance before it said “Good show, good show… got any more tricks I should be afraid of?”

Nicko groaned a little to himself. This was going to be a real pain in the ass once he was back at Beacon. But it was then that he noticed everyone else was staring at Asphyxious dragon form… and Rainbow Dash was screaming her head off.

“NOPONY LET THAT BEAST NEAR THE TOWN!! OPEN FIRE!!!”

“Oh right.” Asphyxious said as he changed back. “That’s better.”

“You never change do you” a voice said calmly as a small black object hit the ground before shining in a bright white light as a person that was covered in a blue and black suit appeared holding a silver longsword in his right hand, before he disappeared.

Back at the academy… (Asphyxious’ Office)

After the exercise was called off, Ruby, Weiss and Nicko were asked to come into Asphyxious office, where Sun and Fluttershy were standing there. Everyone else was excused from the exercise and allowed to either go back to their dorms or their own worlds depending on the circumstances. But right now, Nicko himself felt like he was in the doghouse.

“I’m one for fun and games but that was taking things too far.” Asphyxious said trying to stay calm.

“Look, I’m sorry Asphyxious… I have been trying to keep things in check with my emotions… it’s just becoming a lot harder because of different reasons in my life.” He said.

“Wow, you’re just as bad as Weiss is when someone calls her Ice Queen.” Ruby commented, only for Weiss to elbow her in the ribs. “What? It’s true.”

“I’m already dealt with Leona, who’s now cleaning Beacon… All of it, what should your punishment be?” Asphyxious asked looking at all of them.

There was a knock on the door from outside as the Faunus cleared his throat. “Asphyxious, we should at least hear Nicko out.” Sun spoke, catching Asphyxious by surprise.

“Aw! I was hoping he be the new desert cooker of the school.” Ruby pouted.

“Come in?” Asphyxious said as he try to listen to everyone at once and wait to see if they’ll talk one at a time.

Coco walked into the room. “Reese is shooting Arslan, and Penny’s trying to murder Fox.”

Sun sighed, looking back at Fluttershy. “I’ll go help with that. Asphyxious, you got things under control here?”

“I’ll hear them out, go deal with that Sun.” Asphyxious replied.

“Wait how come Ruby and I are in trouble?” Weiss asked. “We pretty much save the day.”

“Did you two see a barrier blocking your way in?” Asphyxious asked giving them a creepy smile.

“Yeah so we pretty much dug under it. You know, so we won’t break the barrier.” Ruby said bluntly.

Nicko himself facepalmed upon hearing that. It was a clever move, but also if you weren’t careful, it was the height of stupidity. Asphyxious just sighed, redirecting his attention towards the Rune Slayer now as he sat at his desk and narrowed his gaze.

“I’m not going to lie and say you were in the wrong, We didn’t really put too much thought into this when we started. Or put a limit on what can or can not be used. All I’m asking is a little forethought before you go overboard like that again okay?” Asphyxious asked as the shadows in the room grow. “Nicko, if you can summarize what you’re dealing with in one word, what would it be?”

The Rune Slayer sighed, looking at him with the most serious glare that the lich had seen from him and then spoke. “Remember when I said there was a reason why Eris wasn’t here. Well, here’s the reason…… Fatherhood.”

“I could tell by the look in your eyes.” Asphyxious said smiling at him.

“Dude…… It’s not like what you think. Eris is having Twins and Moondancer is having a third. But before they are born, we might be going to war against the baddest demon in my realm. Asphy… I’m worried that I might not be strong enough to protect my family. I lost it before because I treated it like I was fighting to protect them.”

“We’ll I don’t want to keep you from your family.” Asphyxious smirked, smiling at him. “Besides if you're that worried just move planet.”

“Dude… not a good idea… You know what Max told me… Void travel hastens pregnancy.” He said, looking back at him.

“Even better.” Asphyxious said with his smiling getting bigger.

“...... My god, you are acting horny right now, aren't you?” He groaned, facepalming himself.

“No I just want to see the look on your face when the twins pop out.”Asphyxious said then laughed.

“Dude, I’m dealing with three newborns.” He said, groaning. “Not to mention that the reason why Amy and Rainbow couldn’t make it is that Rainbow just entered heat.” All that did though was make him laugh because Asphyxious to look with a face that made him think that he was planning something sinister.

“Well Amy’s going to be busy for the next week.” Asphyxious said as he pulls out a notebook.

“It’s happening above my house.” The Rune Slayer groaned, slamming his face into Asphyxious’ desk as he heard the lich speak.

“At least you wasn’t jumped by Twilight’s mother.” Asphyxious said taking notes.

“Dude… you never had your parents ask a friend how you were during sex when they came for a surprise visit.”

“No I mean Twilight and her mother were in heat and jumped me.” Asphyxious said looking at him broadly. It was then that a scroll with a metal insignia slammed into the back of Asphyxious skull as he almost hit Nicko’s head.

“I hate it when that happens.” He said as he picks it up.

“So yeah… sorry about the mess… if you don’t want me back here anymore, that’s fine-.” It was then though that Asphyxious said something that caught him WAY off guard.

“I want you up and early tomorrow. Don’t be late for combat training.” Asphyxious said looking at the scroll.

“Wait a second… Are you saying that-?” The Lich smirked, looking back at him with a grin as he looked back at him. “Holy sh*t, you’re making me a teacher here.”

“What made you think I wasn’t?” Asphyxious asked smiling at him.

“Dude… you have no idea how happy I am right now,” Nicko smiled as he got up and gave Asphyxious a bro hug. “I’m guessing this is where it’s time I meet the faculty?”

“Well you met two of them earlier.” Weiss said as she pointed at Ruby and herself. Nicko smiled, shaking their hands as Sun re-entered the room.

“And they still won’t let me ask Ruby out on a date.” Asphyxious said shaking his head.

“Dude, you’re with Shalltear… Oh and one thing… Was that Application from Justine?” Sun asked, looking at it. “Yep, thought so… And that was only the first of two surprises today.” Nicko raised an eyebrow, looking back at Sun with an odd look.

“We still need to talk about Vix, Night Terror and Enid getting in.” Asphyxious reminded Sun.

“Wait, what other surprises?” Nicko asked, only to have one other figure enter the room. One person that shocked him. “A-ANSON!?!”

“Sup?” The Infinity Sword that was his brother walked in. Followed by two familiar figures jumping in and tackling Nicko.

“NICKY!!!”

“E-eris!? Moondancer!?! You’re here too!?”

“Of course we’re here! Anson talked about it with Sun and we set this whole surprise up just for you!” The Chaos spirit chuckled, kissing Nicko.

“God, I love you so much when you’re like that…” He smiled, looking back at Asphyxious. “So… about the faculty?”

“Take your time and look around with Sun. I have other things to look over.” Asphyxious said as he pull up some papers.

“Thanks man,” He replied as he walked out with Sun, while Eris and Moondancer were looking at Weiss and Ruby

“Welp we’ll be having a look around the school to make sure nothing else happens.” Weiss said as she and Ruby were about to exit the room.

“Aww… And I wanted those two to be the maids of honor at the wedding…” Eris chuckled, immediately grabbing Ruby’s attention

“....Will there be free food at the wedding?” Ruby asked as Weiss facepalmed herself

“Yes. With Catering from Sugarcube corner.”

“Then see you at the wedding, let us know when it’ll start.” Ruby said as she rushed off to the cafe of the school.

“I’m not wearing a dress to the wedding.” Was all Weiss said as she ran after the airheaded huntress. Asphyxious himself just sighed, only to find Moondancer asleep under his desk. And my god, she looked too cute.

Back with Nicko and Sun, the Faunus was showing them around Campus, introducing them to the members of the faculty as he stopped by one of the other rooms. “And this is Jack. He and his partner Jen are both instructors here, but I don’t know where Jen is. Is she at the lab?”

Jack then slowly looked up before saying “No… she’s not here… I don’t know where she is.”

“Oh my god, is she okay?” Sun then asked.

“Wish I knew she was taken… by the Krawl.” Sun’s expression changed a little as he put his hand on Jack’s shoulder.

“We’ll help find her man. I promise.” He assured him, Nicko adding on as he said that he would do anything in order to help him out.

“Thanks… I just wish I was quicker when it happened.” added Jack “maybe she wouldn't have been captured”

“Hey… Let’s just focus on right now-.” Sun replied, before Nicko noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

“Uh… I hate to interrupt… but is that Penny chasing Coco with a chainsaw?”

It was indeed. Coco used her weapon to block the chainsaw as Penny cackled and ran after her like she was Leatherface.

“ …… I’m getting a bad vibe that this is going to turn into Ponyville Chainsaw Massacre if we don’t do something.” Nicko told the other two as they watched several different ponies fleeing the area.

Penny then threw it to hug Coco. “I want beans! Haha~!”

“O…… kay. Jack, how good are you with robotics?” Sun then asked him as he turned around. “Something tells me the glitches in Penny’s system would get somepony hurt if we don’t do something.”

“Sandy shore, splendid, I want a hug… I’m so lonely!” Penny started crying while cackling.

“I’m afraid I’m not the techie of our group… that was Jen not me,” Jack admitted. It was then though that Nicko actually did something that startled both of them. He walked towards Penny… and gave her a hug.

“There there… There’s nothing to be scared of…”

“...... Holy crap, Nicko is the Penny whisperer.”

“What’s going on out here?” Asphyxious asked walking up to them. “It sounds like all kinds of crazy out here.”

“I think Penny needs some help… and comfort.” The Rune Slayer said, surprised to find her curled up and purring in Nicko’s lap like a kitten.

“Oh, I see.” Asphyxious said was he walked up to them. “Hey there you okay?”

“She doesn’t seem like it.” says a voice from behind him. As they both turned around, they were greeted by a new figure that neither of them recognized.

“Hello… And you’re?” Asphyxious asked.

“Seriously you don’t remember me… my names Craig… we met at that christmas party awhile back.”

“A lot of things happened at that party I don’t remember them all.” Asphyxious replied.

“... Have no strings…” Penny mumbled. “You’re all puppets…”

“Do you mind if I try and help her?” Craig asked as a yellow AI that looked like a Halo spartan appeared on his right shoulder.

When Sun heard the words, red flags appeared in his mind. “Oh sh*t…” yanking something out of his pocket, he shouted something as someone new soon arrived. “Lance, get out here!! This is an emergency!” Lightning crackled around them as the Adept named Lance Walker soon arrived. However, the first thing that he saw was Penny… and how she was freaking out.

“Oh crap, Hi Lance…” Asphyxious said nervously waving awkwardly.

“Hello to you too, Asphy.” He said, redirecting focus back to Penny. “Everyone back away… She’s corrupted.” He said as he rummaged through his bag and grabbed something

“S-s-so…” Penny said, grinning. “You finally arrived. You know, I was wondering if Sun would chicken out and call his cousin for help…”

“Kerrigan… What the hell did you do to Penny?!” Lance snarled, now showing a gem in his hand.

“Oh, nothing much. I just show-sho-sho-showed her my point of view. I don’t think she handled it well…” Penny said, her body jittering.

“You’re hurting her, dammit!” He snarled. “But I do know one way to remove you from the picture.” With his wristband active, he then said something that would surprise anyone we knew. “Aurora, help Penny!”

Craig then jumped down before saying “You to Lambda.”

“Impossible.” Aurora said. “I don’t work like that Lance, I’d rather not… Mess with her.”

“I’m not letting her DIE!!” Lance said, realizing something. “Where’s her power core…? I think I might have a trick… Kerrigan is Ultron…” It was then that Nicko noticed a yellow gem in his hand and his eyes widened. “So we need a Vision.”

“Neither of us are.” added Craig.

“Holy sh*t, he has a mind stone!”

“I never hurt Penny.” Kerrigan said.

“Kerrigan, you’re not bullsh*ting anyone.” Lance told her. “If you weren’t hurting her, than you would leave her alone. But you overstepped your boundaries… Now you’re going to pay the price.” He said as he looked at Craig and Nicko. “Hold her down.”

“On it” replied Craig before he continued to saying “Sorry Penny this will only hurt for a minute.”

“I haven’t hurt Penny whatsoever. I-I-I just took control over her body for a short time. I’ll even leave Penny if that’s what you want. This body has too many strings for my tastes.” Kerrigan said.

“Lambda… shut her up would you?” asked Craig before the AI saluted him and disappeared.

“You think a simple AI can stop me? I’m more than an Artificial Intelligence.”

“Try a merge of two of the Alpha AI units.” argued Craig.

“Hmmm, I thought it was you Sandy.” Asphyxious said as he walked up to Penny. “I didn’t think you was into body jacking.”

“I am not Sandy. My designation is Kerrigan.”

“But you sound like her and I miss her a lot.” Asphyxious said as he pulls Penny into a hug.

“You could consider me her sister. I used to be called Sandy Five.”

“Then come back with me~” Asphyxious purred at her. “We’ll get you your own body and I can take you home~”

“What’s going on?” Leona asked as she floated over with a bucket of soapy water and a sponge in her mouth. Nicko himself couldn’t make heads or tails about what was actually happening. But soon, he saw Asphyxious disappear into Penny’s head, just as another familiar face walked up next to him.

“Uncle Nicko, what’s up with all the racket-?” Nicko turned around to see his niece Faith, who had stopped midsentence upon seeing Penny lying on the ground. “Oh my god, is she okay?”

“I-i don’t know… Penny been acting… weird.” The Rune Slayer explained, taking the time to tell her what happened all the way up to this point. Faith herself was surprised to see that Penny was similar to herself. But it also gave her an idea as she set herself down next to Penny.

“Moby, Remy… Link me up with Penny’s mind… I’m going in.”

“A-are you crazy-!?” The Adept Striker tried to protest, only to watch as the Mind Stone he had and it’s energy were absorbed through Faith as the circuits that were her veins glowed briefly.

“I wasn’t asking.” She said, just as she closed her eyes and let the process begin. “I’m doing this for her sake.”

Penny’s Mind

“Interesting place in here. Penny you in here?” Asphyxious called out from inside her mind. “This could take some time.”

“Penny’s not here…” Kerrigan’s voice echoed. “Her mind is mine.”

“No it’s not.” Asphyxious said as he kept looking. “If you were you’d be able to keep me out.” He then looked around opening random doors and boxes even looking out floating windows.

“Penny is trapped in pain, I’m helping her. You just assume I’m doing her harm.” Kerrigan said calmly.

“If she’s in pain then take me to her. I know what it’s like to be in a body that doesn't feel.” Asphyxious said as he walked around Penny mind scape.

“You don’t understand how she’s hurting. Her soul is weak, the simplest of hurtful words could crack it.”

“So mine, but not anymore.” Asphyxious replied as he stop at a door that barred. “And I know how to help her.” He said kicking the door down then walked inside.

Chains wrapped around him and he saw Penny curled up in a corner. “I see now, trying to slow me down?” Asphyxious asked as he pulled on the chains.

“Oh… Ohhoho… That’s not me~” Kerrigan giggled. “Penny doesn’t want to see you…”

“Well to… Bad!” Asphyxious said as one of his arms snaps. “God that hurts!”

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!” Penny screamed.

“Sorry Penny can’t do that.” Asphyxious said as blood ran down his arms.

“I wanna be ALONE!!!” Swords started stabbing Asphyxious multiple times.

“Oh god that hurts…” Asphyxious coughed up blood as he stay standing. “I… Used to fear, not being able to feel pain…”

“I don’t care! Get out of my head!” Penny screamed. Asphyxious felt an impossible barrier surround her.

“Your… Friends are… Worried about you…” He gasped in pain.

“I have no friends! Sun doesn’t care, RWBY doesn’t care, CFVY doesn’t care. They barely speak to me!” Penny screamed.

“I do…” Asphyxious said smiling weakly. “I’m a big softy… And I can take anything you can dish out…”

“Then take this…” Penny hissed as a giant sword pierced his chest. “I don’t want help from you…”

Asphyxious slowly started to laugh. “Is it… Because I’m a… Monster?” He asked slowly setting up with the sword in his chest. “I mean… Look at me… You did all this and I’m still walking…” He said limping toward her.

“I… Don’t… Care!” Penny sent another sword into Asphyxious’ head. However, this time though, it was deflected as a new voice echoed.

“You aren’t alone. You just think you are…” Asphyxious heard from inside the mind. Turning around to see a white haired girl standing there, a yellow jewel glowing on her forehead. It was Faith Nocte… Anson’s daughter.

“She’s telling the truth.” Said another voice as a small being shaped like a child's drawing of the sun materialized next to Faith. It was Leona, and Faith thought that the little sun was so cute that she couldn’t resist and began to tickle her.

“Stay away from me!” Penny yelled, her shield expanding. Only for a hand from Faith to cause her to bypass through her defenses.

“I want to help you. You are in pain and I want you to feel happy again.” Faith insisted, looking back at her. “I’m a lot like you…”

“I don’t want to be happy!” Penny yelled. “It doesn’t matter if I live or die to anyone!”

“IT DOES!!!” Faith yelled back, only causing Penny to fall backwards as Faith extended a hand towards her. “Penny, we all care for you and want to help you all the same. You are important to me… In fact, you’re like a sister to me. You’re family.”

“I don’t even know you.” Penny said.

“I am Faith. Something that we should all have when things seem grimm. And I have faith in you that you can be yourself again.” She told her, getting down on her knees and pulling her in for a hug. “We all care for you Penny… Please… let us help you…” Now though, Penny could see the tears on Faith’s face as she was held close. The gem glowing brighter than before.

“I get it…” Penny said, smiling slightly. “You’re all strings… Holding me down with all your might. Kerrigan’s the only one I need. Faith is for the weak.”

“Don’t you see that Kerrigan has strings on you?” Faith said, “Because Leona and I can definitely see them.”

“Hahahah!” Kerrigan appeared outside the cage. “I’ve only awakened the true Penny. The unaltered Penny.”

“Faith… Let me handle this.” Leona said before she was consumed in a bright light and code swarmed around her.

“Don’t… We need to let Penny see this for herself.” Faith said.

“Heh…” Kerrigan placed her hands behind her back. “Penny doesn’t need strings. The only way you’ll ‘fix’ her is to string her up like how I found her.”

“I don’t like your tone missy.” Leona said as the light faded to reveal her to have taken the form of a full grown woman with red dragon wings and a tail.

“No… how we do this is to stop the parasite draining her will.” Faith said as she pointed a finger at Kerrigan. “Erase.” With it, a powerful solar beam shot forward, striking Kerrigan in the head as she began to fade away.

“Heheheh… You have no idea… What’s going on…” Kerrigan said, dying. “There were never strings…”

“Leona…”

“I have a plan, please stand back…” Leona said as she walked slowly over to Penny.

“No! I’m not damaged! Don’t do anything!” Penny panicked, tears in her eyes.

“We’re helping you Penny. Please, stay calm.” The Code Queen insisted.

“Penny, look at me.” Leona said in a stern voice as she crouched down in front of her.

“Stop… Your words mean nothing to me!” Penny shouted. A chamber appeared behind her. “N-no! Keep that thing away from me!”

“Leona… Let’s go.”

“No, I am not giving up on her.” Leona said as she pulled Penny to her feet and looked her in the eyes. “Penny snap out of it, whats wrong?”

“My name… Isn’t… Penny…” Penny snarled.

“Then what is your name?” Leona asked in a motherly tone.

“Penelope Dereth… Now get off me!” Penny shoved Leona.

Leona slapped Penelope, then pulled her into a hug. Penny stabbed Leona with a knife and shoved her off. “I am not giving up on you!” She shouted as she grabbed Penelope and restrained her.

“There’s nothing here to hope for! I’m not fixable.” Penelope started trying to free herself.

“I never said there was anything that needed fixing.” Leona said as she looked Penelope in the eye.

“You’re right… There isn’t. I’m a perfect mess nobody should care for.” Penelope glared. “I hate you, I hate Sun, I hate that stupid school, AND I HATE RUBY ROSE!!! I don’t want to be cared about, and the more I know nobody loves me, it makes me happy! So no, there’s nothing to fix! You can’t help me because I don’t need help!” Leona then slapped Penelope again.

It was then that Faith called for assistance as she went to help Leona. “Let’s head to the door.” She said to Leona, pointing at the back of Penny’s mind as she tried to struggle.

“If it will help the poor child then ok…” Leona relented, seeing that this Penelope might as well have been Penny’s dark side. With it, both of them held onto her as they took the first step, before turning around to look at Asphyxious.

“See you on the other side.” Faith smiled as she and Leona walked through the open pathway into the light.

Penny glared at the Iron Lich as she sat down. Hatred dripping into the mindscape.

“When I have full control of my body, I’ll leave this stupid school and I’ll finally be alone.” Penelope said, seething.

Faith looked at the hurt and tortured soul as she walked over to her. “This is for your own good.” With it, her code changed and the Code Queen turned into the form of her Code: Battle Seraph form as she picked her up with a hand. Seeing the chamber inches away, she gave one final push as it knocked Penelope backwards into the chamber for her recovery to begin.

Initiating Recovery Protocol.

Penelope screamed as the chamber channeled electricity through her. She pounded on the door to the chamber. “No! NO!!! NO!!!” A large bolt of electricity shot through her, causing Penelope to close her eyes and slump.

“Sorry this took me so long.” Asphyxious said as his Lich form came out of the pool of blood under his body. “I just needed to let go. And make sure my other self didn’t come out.” He said calmly looking at her. “I don’t know what happening right now, but if you want I can stay with you or leave.”

“You never let me have any fun.” Said the human Asphyxious who started to pull the swords out of his body. “So I’m not needed right now?”

“I’m sorry.” Asphyxious said to his other self who smiled and sank into the pool of blood. The lich turned back to Penny and reached into the chamber. “If you want I can take some of the pain.”

“I don't think she can hear you… Just what happened to her?” Leona wondered.

“Pain and suffering, despair and fear. They have been eating away at her from the start. I know this well for that how I lost my own mind.” Asphyxious said as he slowly took Penny hand. “She feels she alone and her friends do not care about her. I don’t think she been dealing with being displaced as well as the others. But who can deal with being taken from their home.”

“I’ll stay with her in this place until she wake up. Make sure I’m close by when I wake up.” Asphyxious asked.

“Why don’t you let me handle this? This is my real body you're currently seeing after all so there's no chance of accidents.” Leona explained as she took Penny from Asphyxious and placed the android's head in her lap after sitting down.

“Maybe, I just want to save you both.” Asphyxious said as he’s body slowly fell apart. “I’ll be going now and tell the others not to worry.”

A sudden flash blinded everyone as an identical Penny appeared, yawning. “Salutations!”

“...What?...” Asphyxious asked as he can’t stop himself from leaving.

“Are you ok?” Leona asked Penny, ignoring Asphyxious.

“Yeah but I thought that meanie deleted me for good… Huh… Well nice to meet you, I’m Penny Polendina!” Penny grinned. “Who’re you?”

“You may call me Leona.” Leona said as she laid Penelope down and walked over to Penny.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Penny smiled. “Where are we?”

Faith chuckled a little, walking over to her and hugging her. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Do I… Know you?” Penny asked, tilting her head.

“My friends told me a lot about you and they were really worried for you,” She said. “Also… Sun has been worried about you.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Penny shrugged, then looked around. “Don’t know why. I’m just a gynoid… Man this place is dark. ECHO!!!”

‘Echo, echo. Echo… Ech-’

“Hey, you know what? I’m actually kind of similar…” Faith replied, showing her the circuits that ran through her arm. “I’m part machine… Can I see you like an older sister?”

“Uh… Sure!” Penny said. “I’ve always wanted a sister! I… I think…”

“Yay!!” Faith cheered, hugging Penny to where it almost knocked the two of them over. “This is the best day ever!!! Maybe we should go back and tell everyone else that you’re okay.”

Back to reality

“So… Much… Pain…” Asphyxious widened as he lay in a bed in the Beacon Academy infirmiry.

Craig then knelt down next to Asphyxious before he said “You okay there?”

“It fine… Just linking minds with someone else… Has backlash…” Asphyxious said holding his head. “Is Penny okay?”

“I don’t know haven’t seen her yet I was literally here when you woke up.”

“Okay… One question, where are my clothes?” Asphyxious asked slowly setting up.

“No idea that one has nothing to do with me.” Craig admitted.

“Okay… Can you tell who ever put me in here I’m awake now?” Asphyxious said as he rubbed his eye. Only to see Sun, Nicko, Anson and an unconscious Faith nearby.

“You just told him… but the clothes part… that was not our doing.”

“Then who did?” Asphyxious asked a little annoyed. “Also why Penny have two minds?”

“Let’s worry about that later. Rarity came in here and took your clothes because she believed they were… hideous.” Anson replied to Asphyxious. “Also, Faith and Penny now see each other as sisters.”

“Odd, she the one who made me that coat back home.” Asphyxious said rubbing his head.

“Motherhuber!” Penny shouted form a separate room. “What is this stuff!?”

“We’re talking about Sun’s Rarity here.” Nicko replied, turning around to see Faith trying to help out Penny understand where she was… and also try to not play with her drones like they were Tennis balls. “Also, I might need the chance to go back home for a bit. Tell everyone the good news and maybe pack up my stuff and bring it here.”

“I knew that.” Asphyxious said looking around. “Who put me in here anyway?”

“Ruby did… Weiss and her put you here as payback for your… advances… earlier.”

“Oh… Umm, they didn’t help Rarity with… Getting me undressed did they?” Asphyxious asked with a small blush.

“No Weiss didn’t help with that…” Sun sighed, making Asphyxious breath a sigh of relief… for five seconds. “Her sister Winter helped with that part.”

“Oh god…” Asphyxious said pulling the covers up and over his head.

“Yeah…” Nicko sighed, looking back at the others. “I should go back and take care of some things. I won’t be long.” With that, he unsheathed Void Edge and cut open a wormhole for him to travel safely through. Just as he heard Penny scream off of the top of her lungs once she found out something that would make Asphyxious want to hide in shame.

“He what!?”

“Kill me now…” Asphyxious said, hiding under the covers.

“Sorry Asphy… but Penny is enrolled in your course.” Sun replied. “In the same class as Shalltear.”

“GOD DAMNIT!” The Lich yelled.

“Bad luck buddy.” replied Craig

“What even is a kiss!?” Penny cried. All that did was just cause Faith to laugh, Anson to facepalm himself and Sun to snicker a little as he left the room.

“So… Staff room? Forty minutes?” He asked.

“If I live that long…” Asphyxious said from the bed with a pillow over his head.

End Log 22

Log 23- The El Trials (Nature)

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Of Magic and Machines- The El Trials (Nature)

Nicko’s home (Ponyville)

Shortly after coming home from Beacon, Nicko had a few things to take care of on his plate before he could get some actual rest. First, there was having to explain to his Twilight about where Eris and Moondancer was along with him telling her about Beacon Academy and how he got approved as a teacher. Even with the events that unfolded while he was there, Twilight was not only excited for him, but also proud. With being a teacher, the princess told her that he was doing his part in helping contribute to the well being of Eris and Moondancer. The Rune Slayer himself was impressed by it, but also mentioned that he was nervous because he had never been a teacher before. Of course he taught Moondancer, but he never actually taught an ENTIRE class of people. To that extent though, the Alicorn suggested that maybe it would be possible for him to teach some private classes. Therefore, he could still teach a few people without having to push himself to teach a full room of students. Something that he took into consideration for a few different reasons.

First, even if he was allowed to be a teacher, he did not really specify what areas he would actually be teaching. Second, he couldn’t teach magic since the spells and skills that he used were so rare that barely anypony could read or understand it besides himself and Moondancer. The third and final reason was that he wasn’t exactly sure what options there were in regards to classes. He thought about combat and some other possibilities, but was unsure of it because of the possibility that someone like Asphyxious or one of the other Displaced like Ruby would already have applied for that position. They were all things that he would have to inquire about when he had the time.

He couldn’t necessarily talk to Anson about it because he, Leo and Faith were going up to the Crystal Empire to see Nobleheart, the captain of the Royal Guard that was now serving Cadence up north. He remembered Caliburn mentioning him before when he and Faith went to go visit Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, which also was the day he met Moondancer. Not to mention that both Anson and Leo, from what they told him, we’re working on trying to track down the Deadly Chaser that not only attacked Faith, but also was seen along the coast of Baltimare and in a few other locations. Suspicions were that he was possibly working with Ran to set him free, but Faith of all people actually disagreed… and The Rune Slayer still remembered her saying the possibility that Arma was only doing it because he might be offered something in return.

A likely story, but it was one possibility to keep in mind. Sometimes, a good person could be lead to do bad things if they were promised something they couldn’t refuse. Or, in the case of Raven in Elsword, if they were brainwashed to do one’s bidding. He highly doubted it though because Arma actually was able to freely speak on his own and did not show any signs of possibly being controlled. The first possibility was the most likely option, but he rather not fixate on it too much right now with the other thoughts involving Beacon being inside his head. He deeply sighed to himself as he summoned one of his blades and went to his room to use a sharpening stone on it. Even though his blades were enchanted, he still had to take proper care of them nonetheless. He wouldn’t want them breaking apart at all during an attack by Ran, so now seemed like the best time to do this. Besides, things were peaceful for the moment and it was not like he was needed for something right this second.

However, as soon as he thought this though was when he looked up and saw an unexpected guest. “Glave, do you ever knock or let me know ahead of time when you want to talk to me?”

“I’m a displacer and void dweller. I come and go as I please,” He mused, watching Nicko sharpen his blade a little more. “Besides that though, I needed to talk to you about something.” Around now was when the Rune Slayer stopped what he was doing and looked back at the displacer with a raised eyebrow. A bit confused on what exactly he was trying to tell him.

“Okay, can you please clarify on what exactly you mean?” Nicko asked as he set the weightstone down and dismissed his sword, before looking back at Glave. “Because when you say ‘something’, that could mean a variety of things to me.”

The displacer sighed, looking back at the Rune Slayer shortly after he mentioned this to him. “What I mean is that the demons are getting closer and closer to getting Ran out of his prison with each passing day and as of right now, you aren’t prepared to face them. You may have a strong source of magic, yes. But that is no good if they’re trying to tear apart the world from under your feet.”

That last statement just confused Nicko as he looked back at Glave with a raised eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“One the leader of the demons is free, he will stop at nothing in order to try and destroy what holds this world together…” Glave summarized to him, showing him several different El shards of each of the different elements. “Therefore, to prove to me that you are ready to face them, I’m having you face six trials.”

“Sounds simple enough-.” The Rune Slayer commented, until his displacer stopped him halfway through speaking by raising a hand.

“Not exactly… For one thing, you are not allowed to summon any Displaced, be summoned by any Displaced or travel through the void.” The clarification led to two of Nicko’s swords being put in the back of the room and almost all the tokens he had on him. “Therefore, you can only use Ebalon and your skills.”

“Why not Rovaniik?” Nicko questioned, until he realized what Glave meant when he remembered when the two of them visited Dyntos. “Oh right… Deathwing’s token… So how am I suppose to accomplish these trials? Is there anything specific that I need to do or any requirements that I need to meet?”

“Your trials are based on the six kinds of elemental El Shards. Nature, Water, Wind, Fire, Light and Dark. Each challenge will need you to undergo a different task every time so you need to be prepared for whatever possible outcome that happens.”

“And what exactly am I getting out of it with each challenge?” Nicko folded his arms and raised an eyebrow while he posed the question.

“Why ruin the surprise? It would not be fun if I spoil everything for you.”

“...... You remind me of Eris sometimes, you know that right?” The Rune Slayer sighed deeply. “Speaking of which, before I undergo these… tasks, can I let Eris and a few others know that I’m busy.”

Glave smirked under his mask and already was waving a finger at him. “I already have everything under control. Any attempts at summoning you or contacting you will just go to voicemail.”

The warrior then raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he looked back at his displacer and posed another question for him. “Hold on… my token has voicemail?”

“Some tokens do depending on the device. Remember Ichigo and his cellphone?” The Void Dweller reminded him, floating the token before putting it away. “Alright. Seems like everything is in order… Now, if you excuse me… I need to go talk to that Lich and let him know that your… first day of class is going to have to be rescheduled.” With that, Glave handed Nicko something as he turned to leave. “Drink this when you are ready for your first trial.”

As the displacer disappeared, The Runic Swordsman examined the flask he was given, seeing if there was any labels on it. Turns out, there wasn’t any. All there was on the flask was a picture of a leaf. Maybe it was a certain flavor like Minty green or something? Carefully he pulled the cork plug off of the vial and sniffed the newfound scent before drinking it. To his surprise though… it didn’t really have much taste.

All it did was make his head feel dizzy as he closed his eyes and felt something warm glow around him.

Some time after he closed his eyes… There were two things regarding the Rune Slayer’s current situation that stood out to him the most. First off… He was in the middle of a forest that he had not seen before. Second… He was on top of a leaf in the middle of the forest. How the second thing was unknown to him, but it was when he noticed the paper label on the flask… and what was on the back side of it.

Dwarf’s potion. Made for having things shrink to ten times it’s original height. Just seeing that alone made the Rune Slayer think that in some sick way, Glave was watching all of this and laughing at what was happening. “Oh, you son of a b*tch.” He cursed to himself, trying to process everything. “Okay, let’s go over what I know… I’m in the middle of a challenge involving the elements that keep the world together. If the order that Glave told me was correct, then this must be the El Trial of Nature.” As he looked around and carefully used his blade to slide down the edge of the tree he was on, he looked around and began to wonder something. What sort of trial would involve him being shrunk down to size in the middle of the forest?

“Well, I better start walking and see what I can find.” He told himself as he set his sword on his back and began to traverse the terrain around him. As he crossed through the valley and with passing through each thick blade of grass, something didn’t feel right to the Rune Slayer as the farther in he got, the more the surrounding landscape looked like it was being eaten away. Some of the plants itself looked rotted out and poisonous… or more likely… dead.

“Holy sh*t, whatever was here really did a huge number on this place.” He thought, looking closer at some of the old wood that was torn away. Some of them with claw markings and signs that the place had been burned out. Definite signs for what he thought had come through this area as he heard something shift behind him. Taking precautions, he shifted his back right leg and unsheathed his blade. At the right time too when he saw something else try to attack him. But whatever it was… it wasn’t a demon.

“What the!?” It responded as the figure flew backwards. Now was when Nicko noticed two things that really stood out about his attacker. One… it had wings that made it almost resemble a dragonfly… Two, it had antennas on it’s head to support the dragonfly theory. “Just who are you?! Is this who those monsters send to finish what they started.”

Nicko now raised an eyebrow. “Uh… sir? I have no idea about what you are… or what you are talking about. I’m just trying to figure out where the heck I am.”

“Pfft. Like I would fall for lies like that!” The figure said again as it readied it’s broadsword and began to charge at Nicko. However, one small thing that he heard the swordsman say caused him to stop.

“Dang it… I wish Fluttershy we're here to help me out of this mess.”

The name triggered something in the figures mind and to the Rune Slayer’s surprise… He actually stood down. “Please forgive me… I did not realize that you knew a friend of mine,” The stranger said as he looked back at Nicko. “My name is Seabreeze. I’m one of the Breezies that lives here in the Sunlight Woods. What is your name?”

“Nicko Nocte… I understand your confusion, Mr. Seabreeze, but what exactly were you mistaking me for?” He then asked the Breezie as he dismissed his blade. The blue colored creature with a pink mane and tail insisted for him to follow him through an opening in the bottom of a nearby tree. In doing so, the two of them entered a small clearing filled with several homes made of mushrooms and surrounding plant life. However, this place looked like the scene of a warzone as homes were knocked over and crushed to bits. Many other Breezies he did find were hurt and in no shape to fight.

“We were attacked by a group of strangers that had devilish monsters on their side. Ones that looked to be of shadow and blue fire.” Seabreeze told Nicko as he guided him to the main home in the village. “They were wanting to seize our town's prized relic. A crystal that resembled the heart of an Oak tree. It keeps us cool during the humid summers and warm during the frigid winters. If this were taken though, it would dramatically hurt hundreds of people… Now those monsters are pushing it too far.”

The Rune Slayer raised an eyebrow, looking at Seabreeze. “Too… far?”

“They want me to hand it over to them in five hours or they’ll start executing all the civilians they captured. Including children…” Seabreeze personally groaned at the last part, before looking back at Nicko. “Please, you must help us… My wife and daughter were taken by those bastards and they don’t deserve to die like this.” Now it sounded like he was pleading for help. The thought of his family made him tear up a little as he tried to wipe the tears away. He was surprised though, when he felt Nicko’s hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry… I’ll get them back for you,” The Rune Slayer promised to Seabreeze as he helped him calm down. “I’ll get them back and make sure those demons don’t hurt your village or it’s people ever again…” Of course, saying it was one thing, but pulling something like this off was another feat on it’s own. When dealing with a situation like this, Nicko needed to make sure he had a few pieces of necessary information in order to make sure he knew where to go and what he needed to do. It would be better for him to know exactly where they were holding these captives instead of walking blindly, not to mention know what kind of demons that he was actually up against.

He thought the second one because saying demons in general did not really specify the enemy. There were multiple different groups, almost like a flock of geese or a herd of sheep. The ones he knew of when he played Elsword before being Displaced were Glitter, Arc Glitter, Shadow, Shadow Port, Steel Lava and Twilight Demons to name a few. Each one with some similarities and differences. However, there was one specific type of demon that was on his mind given the appearance of the small meadow before entering Seabreeze’s village. As he stepped outside, He remembered seeing patches of black from before and thought they were mold or dark magic. However, now that he took a closer look and put his hand to it, that was when he realized what exactly it was as it felt warm to the touch.

It was ash and burnt wood… Meaning that it just narrowed down the possibilities all the way to one specific group of demons… Steel Lava. Demons that specialized in fire based abilities to scorch any that tried to stop them. Most commonly found in Lanox in the original Elsword, but what would something like that be doing there? Even know he had a thought that Ran had control of all the different groups, he would’ve expected Steel Lava to be in some volcanic or desolate wasteland like the Badlands or Smoky Mountain. So out of all the places in the world that they could possibly be… Why would they be here? Was there anything specific with this location that they would want to be here in the first place?

Was it something to do with this relic Seabreeze was talking about? Right now, it was just a possibility. The Rune Slayer’s main focus right now though was to uncover the demons trail and follow it back to their camp. From analyzing it alone, Nicko could tell one thing… These guys were bad at covering their tracks. Like four year old trying to steal from the cookie jar and lie about it while crumbs were on their face bad. A trail of singed ground lead the warrior to the outside of their camp and judging from the looks of it… these guys looked to have more brawn than brains.

They kept themselves hidden in what appeared to be a wooden fort made of logs. Burning down trees and using the trunks as poles to hold up their defenses. They had lookouts as well, armed with bows and crossbows at different points. From observing them though, Nicko could tell that they switched shifts every half an hour… And that he could use that to his advantage. To quote Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, in chaos… there is opportunity.

For Nicko, he was able to spot a hole in Steel Lava’s defenses and planned to use that to sneak in. Taking a few stones, he painted runes on them to serve as bombs that would trigger a Splash Explosion once they detonated and placed them near the gate and the left side of the fort since the weak point was on the right side of the complex. The stones themselves packed as much explosive punch as a set of C4, which played out in his favor once he caused them to detonate with the snap of a finger. As the soldiers that were on duty began to panic and scramble over to figure out what happened, Nicko was able to sneak away unseen as he soon spotted the cages that were set up in the first place to hold all those who were kidnapped. Immediately, He got to the first lock, where he found a few other breezies inside as they soon took up some of the weapons that were on the nearby weapons racks and using them to break their companions free. One of them soon caught Nicko’s attention as it spoke up.

“Thank you for freeing us… Just who are you though?” A female Breezie asked. She looked a lot different from the other female breezies based on appearance because of her overwhelming display of physical strength and capabilities with a sword and shield. But that was minor in Nicko’s book.

“Nicko Nocte. Seabreeze asked for my help in rescuing you guys,” He briefly explained, while looking at her. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Hera. I’m the lieutenant of the Night Watch in our village.” She answered briefly. “Some of my comrades were also locked up here too and thankfully, are out of their cells because of your bravery… How do you plan to get out of here though?”

That was when Nicko pointed to the hole in the wall he just entered and began to speak. “Take that and follow the path out of the village. I’ll hold these guys off so you can get out of here.”

“Wouldn’t you need some assistance?” She then asked me. “There’s like twenty of them and one of you. You can’t possibly be able to defeat them all so easily.”

“True, but I’ve faced greater odds before. This shouldn’t be that hard,” The warrior insisted, summoning Ebalon as he prepared his magic in order to face the demons that were now noticing his presence. “You better get going before they spot you and the others. They aren’t going to take what’s going on right now too kindly.” Hera nodded, telling her companions the plan she had and leaving me to face the gray skinned freaks as they soon began to notice where I was. Out of all twenty of their current forces, there were five Steel Lava fighters, seven berserkers, and eight scouts. Not to mention that I would think that whoever was suppose to be their commander would also be showing up soon because of the amount of noise Nicko was making.

“Oh what do we have here? Slaughter gnomes and murder golems!? IT MUST BE MY BIRTHDAY!!!” He smirked with an evil grin on his face. There were two broken spears by his feet from the mad dash of Breezies trying to escape, but it was something that played out to his advantage. Quickly, he took up the first one and lobbed it to a campfire that was cooking stew. The second one was thrown straight at the ground by their feet. One would think that he had missed or tried too hard… But to Nicko, he already was two steps ahead as the spears soon detonated again because of the Splash Explosion runes that were placed on there.

“KILL THAT LITTLE BRAT!!” One of them shouted as they charged towards him. “DON’T LET HIM ESCAPE!!” However, all that did was cause Nicko’s rage to be filled even move as he planted his blade into the ground and began to channel his next attack and slam his fist into the ground.

“RISING SLASH!” He roared as his mana took the form of blades and struck the first few demons that stepped closer. Four were defeated from that attack and five were caught in the explosive crossfire with the spears. Now, only eleven were left… and they all were shocked by how one warrior had taken down almost half of their squad that easily.

“All of you have made two grave mistakes… The first was kidnapping and harming the breezies that call this place home…” He said, gripping his blade tighter. “The second… was calling me LITTLE!!” With that, he pushed off the ground as fire churned around his blade and cut down the first demon it hit. Ten demons were left now. Three fighters, three berserkers, four scouts. There was originally four fighters before the first attack, but Nicko’s strike caused the enemy to turn into flames upon death.

“Come on! Is that all you got!?” Nicko taunted, causing for two scouts that had their hands covered in flames to try and strike him. Only for the Rune Slayer to counter their strikes with a fist filled with his fire magic and caused them to fall to the ground before turning to ashes. Channeling that same energy through his hands as he gripped his blade again, and underhand swing unleashed a powerful Sword Wave that hit their friends behind them before another two toppled to the ground and the other two got caught in the Rune Slayer’s Wind Blade skill. Leaving only two berserkers left as the armored fire demons angrily spewed out a combined breath of azure flames. Retaliating from the deaths of their comrades from just a few moments ago. “Woah, that’s hot!!”

He had only mere seconds to dodge as both demons tried to grab at him from opposite angles as he quickly rolled out of the way. Pulling out a mana potion in the process to refuel his energy so he could cast more skills Only thing though was that he had a few limited attacks to choose from. It was on the way over, he realized that his skills had been rebalanced courtesy of Glave and some of the skills he would use like Ice Rune and Rising Wave were no longer present inside. His other skills were rebalanced to apply certain traits, but for someone of his caliber, the more tools in his arsenal he had… the more likely he was to survive.

However, there was one thing that he was thankful for though. One of his abilities that used to be an active skill was now able to work passively because of the rebalance from the Void Dweller. Sword Enchant allowed for him to coat his weapon in three different kinds of elements; Fire, Nature or Water. Fire was demonstrated earlier near the beginning of the fight and with it, his blade was coated in a warm firelight glow. One of the other elements though, was now glowing around the blade as a crisp white aura cast off a cold tingle on Nicko’s hands. As he moved forward and struck first, the same aura was applied to the two remaining demons as they tried to retaliate… unsuccessfully.

A few seconds later, the aura around the blade faded and after a few more attacks, Ebalon was covered in a green coat of magic as the Rune Slayer struck one last time. Letting the effects of the enchantment on his sword do the rest of the work for him. For Sword Enchant, each one of the three elements had a different effect on his opponents. Fire Enchants would burn opponents consecutively for damage, Nature would do the same thing with a coat of poison, and Water would slow an attacker’s movement speed because of the chill of ice from the weapon. Now, turning to the fallen foes, he looked around the camp as the fire from before began to spread. “I better get out of here before anyone notices.” He told himself, rushing out of there to quickly return to Seabreeze’s village. Hoping that Hera was able to escort them to safety.

“DADDY!!”

“HONEYSUCKLE!” Seabreeze cried out in joy upon seeing his daughter come back to him along with his wife, Brisk Spring. “By the stars, I was worried about you! How did you get back here?!”

It was then that Hera, one of the captains of the guard, soon walked in. “It was that one kid that let us out and fought the demons by himself. I think his name was Nicko if I’m not mistaken?” That surprised Seabreeze personally. But the problem was that he did not even see the red haired swordsman alongside them… Until a few moments later when he walked into the village and brushed all the smoke and soot off of his face and clothes.

“And with that… You won’t need to worry about the demons anymore.” He said proudly, making sure to use his magic to cease the flames that burned down the enemy camp. All of the breezies in the village soon broke out in cheers as they congratulated and thanked him for his success. Especially with making sure that the demons would not be bothering their village again anytime soon. Even with that though, the Rune Slayer still had much to do and by the time night had fallen, he was already up again and planning to leave.

Only to be stopped for a second by a familiar voice. “Leaving so soon?” Turning around, Nicko found Seabreeze standing behind him.

“Yeah, I can’t stay unfortunately. I really hope I can come back here sometime though.” He told him, only for the Breezie to place something in his arms and catch him by surprise.

“Here, take this as a token of our appreciation,” The Breezie replied to him. “The emblem on the outfit will allow you to shrink back down to size and come back anytime. I hope this will help you on your journey Nicko… Can you please tell Fluttershy that I said Hi?”

The Rune slayer personally chuckled at that, nodding his head and taking a moment to change into his new set of clothes. “I’ll be sure to let her know when I see her again.” Shortly after though, he felt a pulse of energy flow around him as it began to expand warmly around his body. Closing his eyes, he soon disappeared as the light consumed him entirely. Leaving no trace behind.

Unknown location

When he felt himself land back on solid ground, Nicko found himself in a closed off room that looked to be strangely familiar. The stone walls around him had given him an odd feeling that he had seen this place before. Which of course, was followed up by the note from Glave he found in his pocket.

Congratulations on completing the first trial… It’s only going to get harder from here on out. But, if it makes you feel any better, I’m letting you have a companion throughout the rest of the challenges. Word of warning though… She’s happy to decapitate your head from your torso if you piss her off. Good luck with the El Trial of Water.

-Glave

“Well… that’s encouraging.” He sighed to himself, only to hear a shift in movement up ahead as he turned his head in the direction of the noise. “Is someone there? I swear to god, Rainbow Dash, if this is some sort of sick prank-.”

“Great, another monster. As if I didn’t have enough problems to deal with.” He heard a feminine voice nearby. “Well, sorry about this monster, but I have to kill you now.” The figure tried to lunge for Nicko with a unsheathed Claymore, only for Nicko to summon his blade to counterattack and parry the incoming strike, surprising his attacker. “Impressive, maybe you might give me some entertainment then the last monster that came here.”

“I’m not a monster, I’m a Rune Slayer. Now, since you’re not a pegasus that I know, who are you?” The swordsman said, channeling a bit of magic into his hands so he could disarm his attacker. This of course, surprised the mysterious individual… None of the monsters she had faced before used magic. More specifically… a magic that was thought to be extinct.

“How about this. You beat me in a fight, and I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

“Geez, that sounds like something Rainbow Dash would say.”

“How the hell do you know about my daughter?” That single statement caught Nicko off guard, causing him to look back at the mare with a raised eyebrow.

“Wait a second… daughter?” He asked, confused. “Who are you?” The mare sighed to herself as she stepped into the minimal amount of light that was present. It was a pegasus mare with pink fur, a aquamarine mane and violet eyes. She wore a combat outfit that was strangely familiar to the Rune Slayer along with an oversized claymore and a special red cape on her back, over her wings.

“I’m Firefly, Cloudsdale Grandmaster and founder of the Wonderbolts,” She replied. “Now, about what I asked… How the hell do you know about my daughter?”

End Log 23

Log 24- The El Trials (Water)

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- The El Trials (Water)

Unknown location

Right now, the Rune Slayer named Nicko was trying to get a hold of what exactly this Firefly mare was saying. Rainbow Dash, nor Scootaloo for that matter ever mentioned anything about their parents before. Matter of fact, barely any of the elements… well except for Pinkie, Applejack and Twilight, ever talked about family. Rainbow had always talked about either heroics, the Wonderbolts, or how crazy Amy Anderson could get at times. “So let me get this straight… Rainbow Dash… is your daughter?” He asked for clarification so he could understand.

“For the last time yes, Rainbow Dash is my daughter.” Firefly said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “How is it so hard for you to not get it?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that Rainbow never really wanted to talk about family whenever the subject came up, so none of us, nor her friends actually know who her parents are,” Nicko apologized, adding on an explanation to it so Firefly could understand a little. Even though they had just met, Nicko wanted to make sure that the pegasus wasn’t so suspicious of who he was or what he said. So he had to make sure he picked his words carefully. “Now, Firefly, I’m sorry if this sounds a little rude… But where exactly are we?”

“We’re in the Temple of Trials, kid.” Firefly said in annoyance. “This would be my fifty-sixth time being here.” Nicko was going to question the accuracy of her statement, but the question he had in his mind was erased when he saw the scratches lined up in tally marks of five. There were eleven sets of five and a stray one by itself. “I originally came in here, hearing that this was the last place that Commander Hurricane was last seen before the demons were sealed away many years ago… Man, I was naive back then, because after fighting through several demons, I encountered Hurricane, but he was possessed. The demons had full control of him, making him a fallen guardian. I tried fighting him, but he was too strong. Now I’m being told to complete three trials before I can have a solid round 2 with that jackass.”

“But so far, you’re stuck on this one?” The Rune Slayer asked.

“You can say that. There’s more to it than fighting demons,” The Pegasus said, pointing to the statues that looked like suits of armor. Watching as what appeared to be a bird landed underneath it before getting squished by the suit’s warhammer. “The statues are also traps. So it’s not just strength but speed.”

“Well… That’s just… enlightening.” Nicko replied, trying to erase the image of the dead bird from his head. “Hey, maybe this whole trial thing is something you can’t go through alone on. Perhaps maybe you and I can work as a team? Because the sooner we get through these, the faster we can get out of here.” The warrior offered. He was hesitant though, for if the possibility she would decline what he had asked.

“After being here for Celestia knows how long, I would love for the assistance.” She replied, looking at him before a question formed in her mind. “Mind if I ask for your name?”

“Ah right, my name is Nicko. Nicko Nocte,” He told her as he got his sword ready. Now by looking at everything around the two of them, the Rune Slayer was having flashbacks to the actual Temple of Trials dungeon in Elsword. Where the party that was in the dungeon had to work together to complete three trials; The Trial of Strength, The Trial of Mind, and lastly, The Trial of Shadows. Each trial upon being completed would provide an enchantment that would greatly increase the players survivability rate. Strength would give Impenetrable Shield, increasing their Physical and Magical Defense capabilities. Mind would give Magical Cape, which hastened the regeneration rate of mana. Shadows though, was different from the first two. The effect was called Potential Opened and it allowed for the players attack strength to increase by ten percent for a short amount of time. Smirking, he saw a few of the demons take form as he readied his magic for combat “Alright, let’s do this.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The two of them charged in, using their skills and weapons to deal with the first few minions that tried attacking them. Demons that were known as Cold Hearted and Brutal because of their strength and power. However, both the Rune Slayer and the Grandmaster were not having that much trouble as they were fighting through them. Even when a Sniper demon tried hitting Firefly’s blind spot, Nicko was able to use the edge of his blade to deflect it back towards them, clearing a path for them to press on.

“I’m guessing the statue traps start now?” Nicko asked.

“Yes, however after they slam their hammer on the ground, it takes them five seconds or so to get back to their original position.”

“Let’s use that to our advantage then. Either we rush towards the enemy on the other side or we pull them towards us and let the traps do the rest.” He hypothesized, hoping that this idea would make things less difficult for them as they passed through here.

“Pull them towards us. Because going after them is how I died the first time here.” The pegasus advised. He nodded his head, launching out a Rune towards them to catch their attention before the demons came launching at them. Though a few were hit by the traps, they weren’t exactly dead, so a quick and simple Wind Blade from Nicko was able to get the job done and finish them off before they could get back up again.

“Okay, path’s clear. Let’s keep moving.” He briefly stated before another small group spawned in front of them. This time with a couple of charger demons added to the mix as they took them out one by one. Only difference though was that there was one thing that Firefly honestly did not expect… and also did not want to deal with. And that was a second set of the statue traps on the other half of the pathway.

“Oh I remember these.”

“Just when you think you got through that round, they throw round two right at you,” Nicko sighed, casting Critical Sword to increase his strength and attack speed. “But that just means we need to do one thing… Keep moving on.”

“Let’s just hope we don’t screw up like I did before you came here.” The Grandmaster deadpanned. Both of them had weapons in hand as they hacked and slashed through their opponents, Nicko himself going as far as to roll out of the way of one of the traps so he can finish off a demon from behind. “Alright, almost there. Come on!”

“Running as fast as I can. In case you haven’t notice, I’m not that youthful as I was before.” Nicko was going to say a sly comment about the fact that she had wings, but resisted the urge to say that as he held out a hand to pull her up to the final step they needed to reach. All before they teleported to another platform that was high above the others. “Haven’t made it this far in the trial.”

Looking at her, he then turned to see the sight of a few pieces of armor in the center being pulled together and constructed from the magic that was being released. Forming the one figure Nicko honestly never expected to see… The Guardian Knight of Trials. “Well, the sooner we defeat it, the closer we will be to getting out of here. Just watch for that hammer, who knows what it can do with it.”

“Really? What gave that away?” Firefly said sarcastically. Nicko himself though, realized that Firefly had her back turned towards the Guardian and just as it’s hammer was closing in on her head, the Rune Slayer stepped in between and blocked it. “.....I’ll keep my sarcasm to a minimum until this fight is over.”

“Yeah… something tells me that this won’t be easy as we think it’ll be.” The Rune Slayer said to her as he casted Luna Blade and struck it around the backside of the head and neck. Doing his best to dodge and weave out of the constant hammer attacks and using Fire Rune’s to leave behind burning traps. Meanwhile, Firefly herself was using skills from her own bag of tricks. Like Amy when she had Blazing Heart skills before becoming a Crimson Avenger, Firefly was the last of the three second job classes for Elesis in the game, Elsword. The Grand Master, one who was in tune with her claymore and was a force to be reckoned with when fighting by herself or alongside allies, and her skills in battle were no exception to that.

“Try this on for size! Sword of Victory!” Firefly roared, causing Nicko to dodge out of the way of the attacks that followed as the pegasus focused her efforts on slashing the crap out of the Guardian and tear it’s body apart bit by bit. “Is that the best you got hammerhead? My daughter could beat the hell out of you without even trying!” The knight’s response was to lunge forth and try to smash Firefly. Which it was almost close to doing, but as the hammer came down, the weapon was stuck in the crater it made. Something that the Rune Slayer nearby saw and knew that it was their chance.

“It’s vulnerable! Let’s take it down!!”

“Eat this! Sword of Relices!!!”

“STORM BLADE!!” Nicko roared as a cone of spinning blades began to surround him. Thankfully, the attacks from both of them worked out perfectly as the guardian soon fell to it’s knees and faded into nothing more than broken armor pieces. But once the soldier had fallen, the two of them were teleported into another hallway, and the first thing that Nicko noticed was a set of red rune markings on his arm.

“This must be Impenetrable shield… No wonder I feel a bit stronger.” The swordsman thought as he looked at his companion and asked her a question. “How are you holding up, Firefly?”

“I-I’m fine, j-just let me c-catch my breath.” The Rune Slayer nodded his head, before looking to see all the hallway behind him. Seeing it stretch out as it looked like a door with a shield and two swords was closed off. Signaling that the Trial of Strength was complete… Now only two more remained… two trials that the spellsword’s companion didn’t even know about.

“Finally, I can get out of this stupid pla-.” She sighed in relief, until noticing where she was when she lifted her head up and saw the hallway in front of her. “What the hell!?”

“Firefly, calm down…” Nicko urged her, pointing at the other end of the hall. “See the doors on the other end of the room?”

“Yeah, I went through one for the first cha-. Wait, why is it closed off?”

“That’s what I think we’re being tested on…” The Rune Slayer informed her, looking at all three of the doors. Turning to the wall, he noticed an inscription that looked to be in an old language. But the strange thing was, the words in front of him were turning into english and becoming easier to translate. To face the Guardian who has fallen to the Demons, any brave adventurer must overcome three trials; Strength, Mind and Shadows. By passing them, the adventurers will gain an enchantment to show that they passed that trial. Strength allows the body to become stronger and ward off pain. Mind allows energy and stamina to return quickly. Shadows provides strength and willpower to overcome any fears. Have all three and you might stand a chance.

“What does it mean?”

Nicko, turning around, took a deep breath. “This says that there are three trials to overcome before we face Hurricane. The one we just completed is the Trial of Strength. We need to complete the last two trials and get the enchantments from passing them in order to get to Hurricane, kick his ass, and then get out of here.” Looking back at the pegasus, he helped her up as he made sure that his weapon was ready to go. But he wanted to see if Firefly was ready first so he didn’t leave her behind.

“Care to explain how you are able to read this stuff? Because when I tried to read it, I couldn’t understand or read it.”

“I’m a Rune Slayer. Basically, since my magic specializes with Runes, I can also read runes that are inscribed or carved somewhere easily,” He explained briefly before stopping himself. “I’m not going to try and bore you with explaining magic, something tells me you’ll be bored of it once I start speaking.”

“I’m getting too old for this crap. The sooner I get out of here, the sooner I’m going on vacation.” The Mare said as she placed her Claymore at her side. “And the sooner I get to see my young little filly…”

That… caught Nicko by surprise. “Wait a minute… Filly? How old was Rainbow when you last saw her?” He asked, a bit confused by what the mare was talking about.

“Five years old, why?” Upon hearing that, Nicko actually stopped walking and almost choked on his insides when he heard that. But what he said afterwards was what really stunned the mare once he regained his composure.

“Firefly… Last I checked… Your daughter is twenty five now…” That realization… hit her hard. Like harder than getting thrown into a brick wall or getting hit by an oncoming train. The shock of it all almost caused the mare to look at him in disbelief and to even think he was lying. But after a few moments, she soon realized that he was indeed telling her the truth.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE’S TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD!?”

“L-look, I don’t get it either, but there must be some sort of reason for it… How long have you been stuck here for… inside this temple.” He asked, trying to think of something that popped into his head while he was processing what they just found out.

“I-I Can’t believe this. Twenty-five years stuck in this place, and I missed out on half of my daughter’s life.” She spoke in disbelief as she tried to snap herself out of it. “I mean… It’s only been like almost an entire day. How can time move so fast outside of this place?”

“Maybe it’s an effect of the temple… One hour in here is a year out there… If that’s the case, we gotta move through this quickly. The more time we take in here, the longer we’re separated from the outside world.” With that, Nicko armed himself and prepared to run. “Let’s get through this… I want to make sure you get back to your daughter as soon as possible.”

“I’ll try to assist you in anyway I can.” Firefly said still catching her breath. “I’m not how I used to be seeing how I retire from the Wonderbolts at forty-five.” Nicko smirked. Despite what Firefly said, she demonstrated great fighting abilities and the skills to back him up. They made their way through the main corridor with ease and with it, they now approached the door on the right. Straight to the Trial of Mind. As they ran though, they noticed the statues on the walls were of Magicians and the cracks on the ground surface.

“Careful. May possibly be the same trap as the soldiers last time. Only this time with spellcasters and magic.” The Rune Slayer cautioned Firefly in advance as they quickly resumed cutting down their foes and avoiding as much traps as possible.

“When I find the pony that took me away from my daughter, I’m so going to ring his or her’s neck for this.” Firefly mumbled, slicing through some more opponents that blocked their path as Nicko tried clearing one of his own. Combining his Splash Explosion skill with some stones to create custom frag grenades that exploded with a snap of his finger.

“Okay, almost through the trial. We got a guardian incoming!” The Spellsword warned in advance as he tightened the grip on his blade once the two of them were teleported to a platform above the hallway.

“Seriously? How many guardians are there in this stupid place?”

“Seems like these two and Hurricane and that’s it-.” He assumed, just as the magician guardian manifested from the floor and spat out ice from his hands. “Woah, that was close!! … And kind of cold if I may add to that.”

“Please this is nothing compare to the cold in Yakistan.” Firefly boasted, unaware that the magician was about to detonate a few explosions by her hooves and cause her to fall backwards. “....Oh whoever threw me in here is a dead colt when I get my hands on him.” All the redhead did was focus his attacks and make sure to dodge the explosions in time as well. There were also a few times where the mage had to teleport and attack with its staff, where he had to work with Firefly to parry the weapon and counterattack properly. “Any ideas on how to deal with him?”

“Attack from both sides. It can’t handle having to receive damage from two fronts.” The Rune Slayer instructed, using Sword Wave and Sword Fire to keep up the pressure and provide more damage over time.

“Alright then, Juggernaut Buster!!!” The Mare roared, causing an oversized blade to emerge above her head and forcing Nicko to duck for cover as the pegasus delivered the final blow to the guardian. “Pop quiz, how many times does it take to beat a moron to death? BAM! Sorry, times up, you’re dead!”

“…… Okay, I can definitely tell where Rainbow got her humor from.” Nicko said briefly before both of them had the next enchantment cast on them and were teleported to the front of the final door. Where another tablet with an inscription was there waiting for them. Taking a few moments to inspect it, the Rune Slayer was soon able to figure out what it meant as he turned back to his companion.

“Now what does it say?”

“It says… Congratulations on passing both the Trials of Strength and the Trial of Mind. Now you come across your final task before advancing to the Fallen Guardian. Fight against the shadows that spawn in the next room and survive… Bear in mind though that these will not be the same demons you’ve faced before. Instead, these are dark copies of people you know. Complete the trial and you may proceed to the guardian. Good luck.” He said as he set the tablet down and they were transported to the next room. “Okay… this was not what I was expecting.” Soon, the shadows from beneath them began to spread out, taking on the form of other fighters as Nicko tried to clash and hold his ground. But what Firefly got was something different.

She got a mare that looked like her… but the words were not hers.

“Hello Mommy…”

“D-Dashie?”

“Why did you leave mommy… You said you would come back… You promised.” The sound of the voice cut out for a moment, replaced by the same figure trying to swing for her head. “Why did you have to leave? Because of you, daddy’s got sick… Because of you, daddy’s gone. Why weren’t you there to help me, mommy?”

“.......I’m sorry.” Firefly said as her claymore began to glow brightly. “I’m so sorry for disappearing on you both. I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me once we meet.” She said as her sword burn brighter than the sun. “Just wait a little bit longer, and I’ll explain everything to you once I get out of here.” With that, the claymore struck down and destroyed the clone made of darkness as she saw Nicko trying to hold off the others. Gripping her weapon, she charged in and after a few more moves, both of them had their backs face towards each other and their blades at the ready for anything. “Any ideas? Because I’m running on fumes at the moment.”

“Just hold out a bit longer.” Nicko said, the effects of the enchantment from the magical cape restoring a bit of his mana in the process. But before either of them could make a move, all the shadows turned to dust and the two of them felt a strange surge of magic flow through them both as they were whisked away from there and into the final chamber.

“I…… think we passed the last trial.”

“Oh thank Celestia.” Firefly said as she collapsed to the floor. The Rune Slayer himself offered a Complete Recovery potion to help her out as she tore the top off and inhaled the potion completely.

“Feeling better?” He asked, helping the pegasus stand up onto her hooves.

“I feel a little faint.” The pegasus lied as she leaned against the Rune Slayer. “I might need somepony to carry me due to my….injured leg.”

“Yeah… About that,” He said, looking up as he noticed a small black spot grow bigger in size and close in on them. “We’re not out of the woods just yet.”

“This has better be the last pony we need to fight.” Firefly groaned as a pegasus stallion in black armor and holding an oversized cannon soon crashed down on their location… aiming it towards them as it set off a missile with a small click.

“Find cover!”

“Ah horse feathers!” The two of them barreled out of the way as several missiles collided with surrounding debris. At one point, Nicko had to slice through one of the projectiles as he tried to get to another section of the room before casting Rising Slash and causing six blades to rise from the floor.

“Sword of Victory!!!” She screamed out, damaging the guardian as it scarred the back of it’s armor. However, Hurricane’s counterattack sent the Grandmaster flying into the wall as she was hit by the backside of his cannon.

“Firefly!!!” Nicko cried out, racing towards the opponent as he cast Luna Blade to cripple the opponent’s leg and then went in for a few more strikes and using Sword Wave. There was a reason for Nicko’s constant casting here… Ryu in his world taught the Rune Slayer that chaining skills together can cause the skill at the end of the chain to be much more powerful in strength. And with the skill he chose, he needed every ounce of power he could get to defeat Hurricane.

“Shining… RUNE… BUSTER!!” He roared, his magic going haywire as the black hole he conjured pulled the guardian in, his attacks causing Hurricane’s armor to crash under pressure and the explosions having chunks of armor breaking off. Breaking off to where nothing was left but a broken suit of armor.

“D-did we… do it?” Nicko asked himself, until he realized that he almost forgot about Firefly as he hurried to attend to her and helped patch her up. “You okay?”

“Did anyone get the number of that thundercloud?”

“Firefly, pull yourself together…” Nicko told her, personally relieved. “We’ve won… We can get out of here now.” Hearing those words put joy into the mare’s heart as the Rune Slayer helped her to her hooves.

“HELL YEAH! I can finally get out of this stupid place…..but you need to carry me because I’m exhausted.” The Rune Slayer sighed, looking back at her and doing so as they stepped out the door that opened in the back and into the light… only to find themselves on the clouds nearby Rainbow’s house and outside her front door. “Who’s house is this?”

“That’s…… Rainbows house.” He told her, helping her to the door before looking back at her. “Should I ring the doorbell for you?”

“No….I’ll do it.” Firefly said as she tried to ring the doorbell, only to stop halfway. Nicko was going to help, but he just held back a little. Letting Firefly be able to try and do it by herself so she could see her daughter again for the first time in years. “Maybe I should wait a little before seeing her. I mean, she might not be home now.”

“You don’t know unless you try. Besides, she mostly stays at home whenever she isn’t flying.”

“Still though……”

“If she’s not at the house, nopony will come to the door.” Nicko reminded her, now making Firefly feel a little embarrassed upon realizing that. “I can knock for you if you want me too-.”

“Oh you are such a gentlecolt.” Firefly said as she moved behind Nicko and lightly push him towards the door. The Rune Slayer sighed, ringing the doorbell once before adjusting himself to where Firefly could be seen after seeing that she was trying to hide behind him in the reflection on the window. Soon, the door was answered… and it was exactly the pony that Nicko needed to see.

“Ugh, what is it this time Nicko? Did Amy do something stupid again?” Rainbow Dash asked, a little bit annoyed by his presence at the door.

“No, it’s… well different. A bit complicated, but different.” He said briefly, stepping out of the way so Firefly could see her daughter… All grown up.

“M-Mom?”

“D-Dashie?! I-is that you?” The Mare asked, too shocked to say anything else as tears began to fall from her eyes upon seeing Rainbow. “Oh dear Celestia…”

“B-But how? You disappeared twenty years ago.” Rainbow Dash said as tears began to flow down her face.

“I found her stuck in a place called the Temple of Trials, where she had been struggling to make it through on her own. Turns out, she had only been in there for a few hours and one hour in there is one year in the real world… Welcome home, Firefly… Welcome home.” The Rune Slayer told her, leaving the mare to hug her daughter as Firefly was trying her best to keep her composure.

“Oh I miss you so much my little Dashie!”

“Mom! Don’t call me that in front of my marefriend.” The Pegasus blushed, looking back at her mother with her cheeks lighting up in a shade of light red. Nicko chuckled to himself lightly before looking at them as a mother was able to be back with her daughter once again.

“You’ve grown so much since the last time I saw you. I am so sorry I disappeared on you all those years ago.” Firefly frantically apologized, trying to have her daughter forgive her like she had committed a terrible sin.

“I-It’s fine mom, though your timing could’ve been better.” Rainbow Dash said as she heard Amy getting out of the shower.

“Hey RD! Do we have anymore of that coconut oil for my hair!? I kinda forgot to get some-.” The Crimson Avenger asked, walking into the room with only a bathrobe on as she looked at both of the pegasi at the door. “Um….who’s the mare?”

“That… would be your marefriends mother.” Nicko sighed, facepalming himself at the awkward situation that was unfolding in front of him.

“Oh….” Amy said as she walked into the kitchen.

“You’re not even curious as to how I found her in the first place?” The Rune Slayer asked, before retracting that statement. “You know what, forget I asked. You still have to explain it to Scootaloo anyways.”

“Buddy, you been away for the past seven years. You should realize this Ponyville we’re talking about. You know the place where weird stuff always happen?”

“Hey, I was stuck in stone for seven years because of a blast from the elements of harmony that was deflected,” The Rune Slayer stated at first before continuing. “Firefly here was stuck inside a real version of the Temple of Trials and every hour she was stuck in there, a year would pass in the real world. Oh and by the way… she’s a Grand Master.”

“Really? I didn’t know seeing how I can see a huge ass sword on her back.”

“She does make a valid point.” Firefly said. “It pretty much gave it away.”

“Yeah and Amy is a Crimson Avenger who is basically unkillable, dating your daughter, and the reason that some things for Scootaloo go bump in the night.” The Spellsword stated, causing Firefly to look at Amy before looking back at Rainbow, who had a bit of a blush on her face during that moment.

“So you two are dating huh?” Firefly said as she examine Amy. “Not bad, nice size breast, good looking hips, and she has that fiery passion that doesn’t die. Reminds me of your father, just as a female.”

“Oh this going to be fun to have you as a mother-in-law.” Amy said as she walked out of the kitchen with a protein shake.

“And I guess that’s my cue to leave.” Nicko said as he turned around, posing a question for the Crimson Avenger. “Hey Amy, can you let Anson and the others know I won’t be back for a while? I’m sort of occupied with some training that Glave is having me go through.”

“Still training huh? Well I guess I’ll tell the others seeing how you need some catching up to do.”

“It’s less of training and more of going through trials that force you to try and cheat death. But thanks, Amy. I owe you one.” He told her as he closed the door to the home and began to slowly walk away.

“.....Should I tell him how owing you will end up in misery?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No.” Amy said as she smiled devilishly. “This will make things interesting and fun for me.”

Meanwhile, as Nicko began to walk away from Rainbow’s home, he soon noticed his Displacer waiting for him on a nearby cloud and clapping his hands as he looked back at the Rune Slayer. “Well done… Not only did you complete two of the trials I had planned for you, but you were also able to help a long lost warrior return home.”

“Heh, thanks… I’m guessing that I’m not going to catch a break though, am I?”

“Not quite… In fact, it is time for you to take on your next challenge. The El Trial of Fire,” Glave told him as the cubes in his hand began to glow. After a bright flash of light, Nicko looked around to find himself in what appeared to be the burning ruins of an old castle. But it felt too familiar to him. “Welcome to the ruins of a castle that once belonged to Ponykind… However, it now remains the home of a much more frightening monster. All you need to do is survive… Oh and one more thing.”

“Yes?” Nicko asked, confused.

“Good luck… you may need it.” Glave then disappeared in a small flash of light as a thundering roar could be heard from across the grounds. Looking up, the Rune Slayer’s eyes widened at the sight of the beast that was approaching on his position.

Perkisas, the dragon that was the incarnation of greed itself. Nicko could only do one thing in that moment as he placed his sword on his back and turned around.

Run. “Son of a TAINT!!!”

End Log 24

Log 24F- Darkest Place

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Of Magic and Machines- Darkest Place

Crystal Empire

After she returned home to Equestria, Faith’s father Anson had decided for them to stay in the Crystal Empire for the time being while he was working some things out with General Noblehorn, Princess Cadence, Molly and Jane. Originally, the young girl thought that going to the empire was a great idea… however, one thing that was everypony’s weakness at one point soon began to set in. That weakness being… Boredom. Yes, boredom. Not like the lazy cat like boredom that was seen from Rarity’s pet at the Carousel Boutique. No, more like endlessly throwing a ball against a wall in order to try and actually do something.

In this case, as she was doing that, the ball happened to hit Moby and Remy on the head as soon as they entered the room. “Oww… Ms. Faith, I did advise that you would use extreme caution while handling an object like that.”

The Code Nemesis herself just sighed. “Moby, it’s a rubber ball, not a weapon.”

“Yes but when applied at enough force-.” The groaning from Faith just caused the drone to stop talking as it looked back at her. “I rest my case.”

“Do you think we’ll get the chance to do anything today besides tour around the empire like the last few days?” Faith asked the drones, straightening up on her new bed. “Because over the past few days, Molly has made being here feel like I’m under house arrest.”

“To be fair, if you were under house arrest, then you wouldn’t be able to leave.” Molly said as she pulled up a digital screen. “I’m pretty much using some of the data I’ve collected over the years to make something for Amy later on in case of emergency.”

“Let me rephrase what I said, empire arrest,” Faith told Molly as she looked back at her. “Besides, why are you even telling me what you are doing after you came into my room unannounced?”

“If you had a sister that causes trouble in less then a second, a mother who pretty much making kissy faces to your now future father-in-law, and a former crazy maid who pretty much has an annoying mare who keeps talking in third person. Wouldn’t you want to find a place that is quiet and away from the madness?”

“Last I heard, Amy is in Cloudsdale and you have a room down the hall. Can’t you set up a security system with your Dynamo’s to vaporize anyone who doesn’t knock first?” Faith questioned, thinking outside the box when it came to Molly’s tech. She had seen the mastermind do several things on her own with her Dynamo’s… so why couldn’t she try that?

“You obviously never met my family to know what things can change in less then a second.” Molly groaned in response to Faith’s question, answering it for her. The Code Queen didn’t really pay attention to what Molly had to say… because it seemed like she forgot that Faith never had siblings. Meaning that she didn’t know what it was like to have a brother or sister.

“Right… I don’t know what that’s like because I never had any siblings. My mom died when I was still little.” The Code Nemesis reminded her. “Still, Pinkie Pie feels like a second mother and that I’m ok with.”

“Hold still for a second please.” Molly said as she had a purple-ish cube float in front of Faith and scanned her head to toe before returning to the Mastermind. “Thank you.”

“Okay… what was that all about?” She asked, confused by what Molly just did.

“I scanned you for your powers, skills, and possibly future power that haven’t been unlocked yet. Granted it's not fully complete, but with what you have currently, it’ll have to do for my project.” Molly told her, but upon pulling up a screen on her Dynamo’s, three bold red words soon emerged on screen.

DATA NOT FOUND.

“Yeah… That’s Nasod based tech isn’t it?” Faith asked, waiting to hear back on Molly’s response to that.

“All the more reason why this will be interesting to look into later. But for now I’ll put it on the side until I’m finish with my other projects.” Molly said as she summoned a digital screen with Amy and Jane’s DNA on it.

“Yeah… Hate to burst your bubble on that one… But technically, I am a Nasod,” She explained, changing her SourceCode to switch to her Battle Seraph form. “So I switch between three different variations. I’m not as easy to keep an eye on unlike your family.”

“You think you’re the first to do something like that.” The Mastermind said as she chuckled a bit from Faith’s statement. “You not the only one that can do something like that. Then again the young are always given the easy way instead of the hard and difficult way of doing things.” However, when Molly looked back in Faith’s direction, all she saw was a plasma dummy with a note that said “See ya!” as Faith was nowhere to be found. Not even in the nearby hallway as Molly frantically tried to find out where she went.

“Apocalypse.” Molly said as she summoned the cube next to her. “Keep an eye on Faith and her surroundings while staying a safe distance. Something tells me I’ll be collecting some more info from her then I thought I would.” That was when a gust of wind turned over the small note as it read a new message.

“This dummy will now self destruct.”

“.......Oh I’m so going to kick her ass for this.” That was when the plasma copy of faith detonated, causing a cloud of smoke to emerge from her room and triggering the castle’s crystalline sprinkler system that would go off in case of a fire. Molly then heard several loud cries of displeasure followed by Anson’s familiar voice.

“MOLLY!!!”

Outside…

“Ah man, I can’t believe that worked.” Faith chuckled as she landed outside under the windowsill of the dining room hall. “Now then… what to do today?” The Code Nemesis asked herself, just as she turned around and felt herself bump into someone and falling to the ground from the collision.

“Oww… Watch where you-.” Faith stopped speaking once she opened her eyes and realized that who she ran into was a young filly… A young filly that had a unicorn horn and oversized wings… Wait, that can’t be right. “Oh sorry, did I hurt you?”

“N-no, it’s okay.” The filly replied, tilting her head a little. “Hunh? I’ve never seen anypony like you before… Who are you?”

“Me?” The Seraph asked. “My name is Faith… Sorry for bumping into you miss…” Faith looked from the tip of the filly’s horn to the bottom of her hooves and just looked confused. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“Me neither… I’m Flurry Heart, nice to meet you Ms. Faith!” She seemed very eager for being only about seven years old, give or take, and was pretty hyper from the looks of it. “Can we be friends? I-i really don’t have that many and-.”

“Sure.” Flurry Heart herself, looked surprised. She honestly did not expect her to answer so quickly! With a positive answer for that matter!! For as long as she could remember, not many ponies wanted to be friends with her for numerous reasons and she had been bullied many times for it. Now though, words can barely describe how she felt right now. It felt like the greatest thing in the world… multiplied by 10.

“Oh thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!” She squeaked, latching onto Faith in the process before realizing the extent of her actions and let go of the hug. “S-sorry. Sometimes I get overexcited a bit when I’m overjoyed.”

“No worries. Happiness is a good feeling to have.” Faith told her, placing her hand on her shoulder. “Hey, if you aren’t doing anything, you want to go have some fun or something?”

“Do I?! Oh yes I would like to!” The youngling cheered before looking behind Faith and noticing something that seemed out of place. “Say, who’s that angry looking lady?” Faith turned around, only for her smile to drop a little at the sight of an irritated Molly stepping out of the castle. Her hair and clothes dirty and her attitude being flat out pissed off.

“......You have no idea how much trouble you’re in young lady.”

“Uh… Which lady?” Flurry Heart asked the Mastermind. “Please don’t take me back to my room… My mother had me be in there for FOREVER and I barely get to do anything fun! Faith’s my only friend-.”

“Not you.” Molly said as she points at Faith. “Her.” The Code Queen closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh before opening them again, staring down Molly.

“If this was for the dummy, it was suppose to be an EMP burst… whatever happened involving your tech was not my fault.” Faith tried to reason with Molly, but she did not want to hear it shortly after the code queen stopped speaking.

“Oh it’s the combination of yours and mine. Mostly because should’ve made something to counter that, and yours for having knocking out most of the power in the castle along with setting off the sprinklers in there as well. So thanks to you we’re both in trouble.”

“Says the Mastermind who hardwired her tech to the ENTIRE castle in her quest to gain all the information there is. I just wanted you to unplug for a moment… Not disrupt everything in the castle,” Faith told her, remembering Molly making several configurations with her room and various other rooms in the castle such as the kitchen and the library so instead of getting up to go grab a bite to eat, a swipe of a finger was all that was needed to bring up a gourmet meal. “All of the tech that you set up has been helping you, but… and no offense, it’s been making you lazy.”

“Kid, if you seen the stuff that’s been going on in Equestria for the past seven and a half years you would pretty much be the type that prepares for something bad to happen. Especially when dealing with rogue displaced that try to take over your world.” Molly said as she cracked her neck. “And who said I was being lazy kid?”

“I saw you digitize an entire three course meal the other night and not even have to get off your bed in order to make the dishes end up in the sink,” Faith said as she folded her arms. “Need I go on? Moby and Remy have a few more examples.”

“Moby and Remy? You have imaginary friends?” Flurry Heart asked, causing Faith to facepalm herself in the process. “I have one called Angkor! He’s been helping me with my magic!”

“What I do in my spare time is none of business kid. I been at this much longer than you, so I would advise not to cross over a line you don’t want to cross.” Molly said as her eyes glowed for a split second. “Now, back to the matter at hand. Anson wants to see the two of us after what happen. Apparently he’s a bit upset at the fact that he has to redo some of the paper work, and he’ll need your assistance to help him seeing how he’s been at it for past few hours or so.”

“Do those papers involve me or anything regarding me like insurance or anything like that?”

“Half of it is while the others were stuff to lower taxes for the poor. While you’re doing that I have to finish repairing the water system for the sprinklers, a pet project that Artemis asked for me to do for Amy, finish the security system for-.”

“Hey! Leave Faith alone.” Flurry cried out the second she saw Molly trying to tower over Faith like if someone was going to discipline their child.

“Look kid, I’m just following Anson’s orders and listing the ton of stuff I have to do thanks to your friend’s stunt. So if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking Faith with me to own up to her part of the incident.” The moment when Flurry saw Molly grab Faith’s hand though was when the Alicorn snapped and some of her magic began to radiate from her hands. A mixture of light and shadow as it caused some of Molly’s dynamo’s to go haywire from the reaction.

“I said leave her ALONE!!” She retaliated, holding a hand out in front of her as magic began to violently boil around her palms. “Plasma cutter!!”

“Impressive for a beginner.” Molly said as Flurry Heart’s attack hit her at point blank range.

“Heh… I told you I have a good friend that helped me… Now you get to meet him,” Flurry smirked. Faith looked up to see the bat that was in the air and used a small Tesla shock to loosen Molly’s grip as she got out of the way of what came next. “Phantom Breath!!!”

“Not bad.” Molly said as she brushed off her attack like brushing off dirt from her shoes. All that Flurry did though was wave goodbye as she placed a hand on Faith and the two of them disappeared. But where they ended up was not exactly in Molly’s favor as she saw them in front of Cadence and Anson. But the words she heard was something else.

“Mommy, that white haired lady was picking on my friend and I!!” She said, causing the attention to be focused on Molly instead of her.

“Really? As if I didn’t have enough to deal with.” She groaned, watching as Anson had both of them go to Faith’s room as he turned his attention to Cadence and sighed.

“First, it was the copies of all the kingdom’s records getting soaked and now this? You are seriously the reason why I might consider getting a drink with Artemis later, Molly.” The Infinity Sword groaned, looking back at the Mastermind.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you can’t get her yourself. I told you what happen yet I get lectured even after showing two virtual examples of proof. You should’ve gotten her yourself.”

“I’m dealing with it the best I can right now and I’ll talk with them later…” Anson assured her, looking back at Cadence before returning to Molly. “Now, otherwise the minor mishaps, you were talking to us about your progress with the security system? I know Gleaming Shield has the dome spell to protect the empire from above and we have a portal link to both Ponyville and Cloudsdale… But my concern is if everyone would be exactly ready when the demons make their move… We’ve been trying to get a hold of officials in Canterlot, yet the courier we sent has not returned yet.”

“I told you that you should’ve let me do. Beside that, the security system is up and running, but it has some problems. Mostly because I’m using a different source of power.”

“The Crystal Heart?” Anson asked. “You’re working with something magical instead of something scientific… plus, that thing holds the entire city together. Please, for the love of god-.”

“First of all I’m using a dark el shard to do that. It’s to make sure that demons that can get through Gleaming Shield’s barrier don’t get in, and can damage them. The Crystal Heart is good and all, but I can’t use it without having to destroy it in the process.”

“At least I know you’re not trying anything crazy… I’m counting on you to get this done. I’ll be back in an hour or so. Going to check with Gleaming Shield on the empire's troops.” Anson said before running off. Leaving Molly with Cadence.

“Easier said than done. If push come to shove I’ll have to use an alternative if the dark el shard power goes out.” Molly said to herself as she looked at the princess. Who had her arms folded and was tapping her fingers like she was waiting on something from Molly.

“I’m waiting for an apology…” Cadence groaned.

“Not my fault for the way your daughter reacted. If anything, you should’ve let her be out more and about then kept her locked in a cage for half her life.” Molly scolded, only to get an even angrier glare from Cadence.

“My daughter came running to me saying that you attacked her.” She sternly snapped. “And you blame me for it?!” Both of them continued bantering on like this for some time, arguing back and forth with Flurry Heart being nowhere in the vicinity.

Because she was busy showing Faith her greatest secret.

“Wow, I can’t believe that actually worked,” Flurry Heart said as she breathed a sigh of relief. She and her new friend Faith were now really far away from where her parents were along with Faith’s dad and right now felt like the time to get the chance to learn a little bit more about her new friend. “So… you said something about wanting to do something fun?”

“Yeah uh… Not to be rude, but what was that you just did?” Faith asked her, folding her arms a bit. “I mean… I’ve seen Unicorns and Alicorns use magic before, but the one that you used was similar to when my uncle uses magic.”

“Your uncle?” Flurry asked, tilting her head. “Who’s he?” That… was something that Faith honestly did not expect. She had a feeling that Flurry didn’t get out of the castle much, but this just sounded like her parents were a little overprotective. So… she had to take a different approach.

“Tell me something Flurry… Have you ever heard of a Rune Slayer?”

“Uh… I think so once… But maybe Angkor knows!” The filly proclaimed, but hearing that just made Faith even more confused.

“Your imaginary friend?”

“Oh I can assure you that I’m not so imaginary, little code queen…” A voice said as Faith turned around to see a particular creature behind her. For a moment, it sounded like something dark and scary, but that turned out to be quite different once it could be seen in the light.

However, looking back at the creature, all she could do was laugh a little as she tried to control her outburst. “I’m sorry for sounding so bold, but how could this tiny adorable creature be your teacher?”

“I’M NOT ADORABLE!” The bat screamed, staring down at Faith. “I’ve been around in Equestria MUCH longer than you have and Flurry Heart has been the only pony that hasn’t ran away from me or tried to chase me away.”

“Okay, but how exactly are you helping her?” The Seraph questioned. “I mean, standing there and yelling doesn’t help.”

“Like the two drones that you can summon in combat, Flurry can summon me into battle and have me fight alongside her,” The bat explained. “Her magic is both a combination of hers and mine and I have been teaching her how to control it since she… well… had a few problems with it when she was a newborn foal.”

“Oh come on now, Ange. It wasn’t that bad.” Flurry heart giggled.

“You destroyed the Crystal Heart by the amount of magic you released with one sneeze,” The bat deadpanned. “And I thought I asked you to stop calling me that! It’s embarrassing.”

“I actually kind of like it,” Faith smirked. “I think that would be easier to remember that Angkor, that’s for sure.”

“OH COME ON!!” The bat snapped, pouting to himself before drifting off… only to return a few moments later when Flurry mentioned something.

“Sorry… Uh, Angkor, can I ask you something?” The Alicorn then asked. “Are you familiar with what a Rune Slayer is?”

“A Rune Slayer?” He asked for clarification. “I have not heard of such a thing in quite a while, but I do remember one that risked his life to protect his brother… Quite a great story that I believe your mother told you when you were little.”

“But that sounds like a legend… and what does it have to do with Faith’s uncle?” Flurry then asked, causing Angkor to sigh and look at the Code Seraph.

“Believe me when I say this, Flurry.” The young Code Queen told her. “There’s always a little bit of truth to legends. My Uncle is the Rune Slayer that Angkor is talking about… not to mention that he can control a magic that many ponies here may see as long gone.”

“That sounds AMAZING!!” Flurry Heart gleefully cheered. “Hey Angkor, do you think that her uncle could be able to help me with… well… controlling my magic?”

“I thought I was helping you with that?” The bat asked, causing Flurry Heart to pout a little before chuckling a little. “It’s alright Flurry. Maybe we can take it into consideration once your training is complete… Does that sound like a good idea to you, Ms. Faith?” Faith honestly did not expect the question to come back around to her.

“Yeah, I think we could have that arranged,” She said, looking back at her. “I’m going to guess that you want to show to your parents that you can take care of yourself and that they don’t need to worry about you?”

“Y-yeah. How-?”

“I’ve been through that with my father,” Faith explained. “At one point in my childhood, he was in what he would consider the darkest place in his life… It got to the point where he was too worried about letting me be on my own. But I was able to show him that I could be able to not just take care of myself… but also help him too. Maybe I can do the same for you.”

“T-thank you!!” Flurry squealed, leaping over to Faith and pulling her into a hug. “Oh thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!”

“Your welcome Flurry.” Faith smiled. “Now, how about you show me what you are capable of…”

“Sure but… before we begin, can I ask you something?” Flurry asked, only causing Faith to nod her head as the Alicorn soon formed the question in her head. “How strong is your uncle?”

“To be honest…” Flurry replied. “He is quite strong in combat and when it comes to spells, so… I definitely believe there’s nothing he can’t handle.” She, of course, was telling herself this inside her head because she had not seen her uncle in the past couple of days, but it did not mean that he was in trouble… right?

Log 25- The El Trials (Fire)

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Author's Notes:

This time though for trials, I tried as much as possible to stick with two things. One, the flow of how the raid event was for Perkisas when it was going on... Second, referencing all of Nicko's current skills (including his awakening state, which I thank ElementBrigade for introducing me to this song. It helped with writing it) and the training he learned from Ryu in Swords, Sorcery and shenanigans. I wanted to be able to get through these last three trials quickly, but I need to put some thought into it... because at this rate, I don't know what to do for the next chapter... Maybe I can find a way to combine the last few trials to make things move along more quickly. I am REALLY wanting Nicko to meet several displaced, but Glave's rules state that he can't until these trials are complete so... yeah...

So who plays Borderlands 2 on steam?
(No seriously, a friend of mine on Steam gifted it for me and I have been looking for some people to play co-op with. Been having fun as a Mechromancer... but I think it's better if you smash the system with a few friends. )

Next time: The El Trials (Wind)

Of Magic and Machines- The El Trials (Fire)

Another unknown location

Right now, Nicko was really not liking the situation he was thrown into. It was only sometime ago that he had started a series of six challenges from his Displacer Glave to prove to him that he was strong enough to face the demon threat that was coming and now, the Rune Slayer was having himself being chased by Perkisas, a dragon that was not so happy with him deciding to just show up randomly in what he declared as “his domain”. Previously, in other situations, Nicko would’ve had Faith or some kind of partner to join him in the fight. Now, he was on his own… and this was beginning to be a LOT tougher than he originally thought. Especially when he had to dive behind pillars to avoid the dragon’s fire breath.

“Damn, that was WAY too close,” He cursed mentally as the flames around him began to die down, casting Sword Fire at the base of the dragon’s paws in hopes of actually being able to damage him and leaving several Fire Runes around the area in hopes of them damaging Perkisas. For the past five minutes, Nicko’s plan to actually be able to survive this fight involved being able to attack when the dragon had stopped moving, flee when it was trying to pursue him, and duck for cover in order to protect himself from his nasty fire attacks. However, in the back of his mind, he was beginning to reflect on something that Dyntos had happened to tell him back when he was undergoing some similar trials to acquire Ebalon. The god of the forge had mentioned to him that in order to be able to fully use [Variant], one of the abilities from his teacher Ryu, it required [Greed].

Given that Perkisas was known as the Incarnation of Greed, if there was anything that could possibly help him with being able to fully understand his master’s teachings, he would have to find it here… somehow. But that wasn’t his biggest priority… His biggest priority was when Glave told him to do when this trial first started and that was to survive… He did not know how… he did not know how long… just survive. Which, as of right now, seemed to pretty difficult given everything so far. At one point though, Perkisas roared, causing the entire place to shake as he stretched his wings and took off into the sky.

For the moment, Nicko saw a stairwell in front of him and what he thought was supposed to be a way out of here. But seconds before he could reach the door, the Rune Slayer was teleported away to another section of the ruins… where Perkisas himself soon landed right in front of him, gazing down from above him.

“So a little wyrm was sent in order to try and stop me?” The dragon growled, staring down the spellsword. “How pathetic…”

Nicko’s ears twitched and his anger began to rise from that single comment alone. “Oh you are ASKING for it now, you overgrown lizard!!”

“Your insults will only lead to your inevitable demise, you brat!!” Perkisas declared as he swiped a claw in Nicko’s direction and began to lash out at him mercilessly. Casting fireballs to fall down from the sky like meteors as his anger and rage began to boil like a volcano that was about to erupt. “Now taste the fires of hell!!”

All the fireballs were quickly trying to home in on Nicko’s location, causing the spellsword to run, dodge and sometimes maneuver out of the way in order to not get hurt. However, some of the projectiles were too close to almost burning his left arm in the process of dodging out of the way. Unlike his other sets of clothes, which either covered the arms or didn’t, the garbs that the breezies had given him as a gift only covered his right arm and left his other arm exposed. Leading Nicko to try and come up with a different approach against the dragon since going in head first was not going to help him in this situation.

After all, he was up against something that could easily be around the size of Canterlot. Maybe more depending. But his focus was not on that and instead on trying to hold his ground while Perkisas was trying to smother him with a vicious breath of burning flames. The Rune Slayer put his blade up in attempt to guard himself, but the metal of his sword became extremely hot, burning his hands and causing him to drop it on the ground. Leaving him defenseless… but still doing his best to not budge as the flames around him began to burn brighter.

“Pitiful creature!! Do you think you can stand against my flames!?” Perkisas roared to the heavens, not letting up in his ferocity. “Many have tried and all have failed!! You will die like the rest of them!!!” As the dragon continued to breathe it’s fire, what Perkisas did not notice what was channeling around the spellsword as blood red magic was soon unleashed from Nicko. The Rune Slayer’s way of the sword ability had activated, taking form in the Spirit of Destruction that was flowing through him.

“Oh really now?” Nicko smirked, gritting his teeth as he held onto his blade again, pointing it at the dragon. “Your arrogance and overconfidence will lead to your downfall, Perkisas. I will make sure of that.” The dragon lashed out at the Rune Slayer, but Nicko was able to dodge it effortlessly as he countered the attack with one of his own. Where he was able to land a solid hit… and also break off a piece of Perkisas’ right horn as it fell to the ground.

However, breaking their horn was like breaking a bone. One, it was painful. Two, all it did was make Perkisas incredibly pissed. “YOU LITTLE WRETCH!! How dare you strike me!!” It roared, snapping at the Rune Slayer with it’s jaws and just barely missing it’s clothes. Nicko’s response was an explosive fist full of magic straight into the dragon's maw, which upon impact had done significant damage to the dragons face… and angered it even more. With it’s claws only putting mere scratches on the Spellsword, the incarnation of greed planned a different approach as it spread its mighty wings and took off into the darkened sky above his head.

“Damn it… How the hell am I suppose to get him down?!” He questioned himself, looking around desperately for anything that could possibly help him in this instance right now. The castle did not have any cannons or any heavy explosive artillery that he could use, but upon further inspection, he did find something of use as Perkisas was trying to pelt him with fireballs. But in the midst of all this chaos, Nicko was still able to use his magic and runes to arm and prepare a Ballista on the far left corner of the wall. Even though he never had dealt with this kind of weapon before, he was able to aim it by guiding it with his magic… and ultimately fire the oversized bow by hitting it with his blade.

The bolt that was put on the gigantic crossbow almost sent Nicko skidding backwards a few feet, but as it flew in the air, it’s target was unaware of what was coming as it was struck in the wing and impaled itself deeply into the dragon’s wing. “Kuahh! It can't be...!!” The Dragon roared, crashing through the complex that it was originally on… and causing the floor underneath Nicko to crumble away… faster than he could be able to get up and moving.

“Oh Sh-!”

Somewhere in the dragon lands, a dragon lord that went by the name Ember was trying to reflect upon some of the important times in Equestrian History that the dragons had to overcome. From what she could remember off of the top of her head, there was the migration, trying to find a home to call their own and the Gauntlet of Fire to determine the next dragon lord… However, there was one thing that had put every one of those events in motion.

Because at one time, the dragons that lived here once had a home. A kingdom to call their own. However, it was soon stolen from them by a selfish dragon whose greed was unlike anything any other dragon had come across. It was the only dragon that was able to single handedly defeat her father in battle and as a consequence of his defeat, every dragon that had once lived in the castle of Zin Dovah were cast out. He was feared throughout the land and his roar could stretch out for miles.

But there was something about today that did not feel right to her… She was unsure what it was, but something within her felt as if today, something was going to change-.

“Kuahh! It can't be...!!”

Immediately after she heard that, Ember was on her claws, grabbing her scepter and racing outside. Wanting to see what was happening as she heard a loud and thunderous clash echo in the distance. When she was finally outside, she now saw something that she could not even comprehend or believe.

That same dragon, the one that took away their home, was toppling from the sky and crashing through the main tower of the city. A sight that she had never thought she would be able to see before in all of her life. Now it was happening right in front of her eyes.

“Ember, what the hell is going on!?” A rather loud voice boomed, causing her to turn around and see the figure that was her father approach the entrance to her cave. “Whatever just happened right now is making all the younglings scared like when the elders told them the story of Perkisas-.” The name of the incarnation of greed itself caused Ember to slowly turn around and have her father Torch see the same thing she was seeing. The one thing that caused him to be just as shocked as every other dragon that was in the dragonlands, who lived long enough to remember the legend of the Incarnation Greed.

“Something… or someone had challenged Perkisas… and he just crashed through the main tower of the city…” Ember told her father, who turned to almost every other dragon that was behind them as she firmly gripped the Bloodstone Scepter that she wielded. “Attention everyone! I need any dragon that is able to assist me right now… Someone or something has crippled the monster named Perkisas and I’m forming a squad to find out who that is. You may stay if you wish, but if any dragon who is willing to lend their assistance, meet me outside the cave as soon as possible!!”

Before Nicko could be able to run or even get off of the floor, the Rune Slayer’s weight caused him to fall into the pit that contained all of the dragon’s treasure as he took a hard landing on a pile of gold coins, having him sink underneath the loot as he had to salvage himself out of the pile and look up, only to see the dragon that had also crashed down with him. He originally thought that he had defeated Perkisas… until he remembered something regarding this fight.

In the original Elsword, the raid in it’s entirety was split into three phases. Phase one was what he personally called the Climb, since that phase involved a lot of upward climbing and staying on your feet in order to be able to fight and now get destroyed by the dragon. Phase two was known in game as Fallen Dignity, but what he called the Run due to the large amount of running away from Perkisas. That was the phase that Glave had dropped him in… Now there was one last test.

Phase three… The Nightmare.

“You think YOU CAN DESTROY ME!?!” The dragon roared as it rose off of the floor and stood over the Rune Slayer now. “You are a FOOL for thinking that I could be so easily defeated!!”

“Uhh… To be fair, I never actually thought tha-. WOAH!!” Nicko reacted, moving out of the way just in time to dodge an attack that almost hit his head. “What the HELL is your problem!?” Despite the rhetorical question, the Rune Slayer still got an answer in response as a black cloud began to alter his vision and change everything around him. This was where the Nightmare phase of the trial had begun… and Perkisas himself was in a new form to go with it.

The mad dragon now had a human like form as Nicko readied himself for what came shortly afterwards, hearing a maddening cackle from him as well. “Welcome... This is the final trial given to you by I, the Great Perkisas... Try... And struggle out of your own nightmares!!”

“Well, here goes nothing!” Nicko thought to himself, preparing his blade and casting Critical Sword in preparation for what was going to happen next. In the Nightmare phase, Perkisas not only had a human like form, but multiple new abilities unlike his dragon counterpart. Including a series of Nightmare flames that definitely hurt like hell if you were to get caught in the pillars that spawned from the floor. High mobility classes like Code: Battle Seraph’s and anything that Add could be would take this as child's play, but it wasn’t the same for Nicko because his abilities weren’t focused on movement at all. Instead, they were focused primarily on combat. So when the dragon hybrid began to cast them, Nicko had to do all that he could to move out of the way or his clothes would burn to shreds.

But that was only one trick that his opponent had up his barely even existent sleeves. There were several others that Nicko knew were going to be a pain in the ass to deal with. His melee attacks, known in game as Phantom Edge, could break someone’s guard if they were unlucky enough to get caught in the attack. He could teleport with Shadow Force and deal damage to anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby him when it happens, but Perkisas mostly uses this to set up Royal Javelin, which can cripple someone if they get struck by the javelins he fires and preventing them from fully moving on their own.

The javelin was only one of two projectiles that Perkisas as a boss could cast. The other was Avarice Orb, which if hit, could do the same exact thing that Nicko would normally do to his opponents with his passive ability called Magic Chain and decrease their magical defense. However, Avarice Orb to Nicko was also seen as a flaming windmill of death. Magical Defense is an important trait for Rune Slayers to have if they want to stay alive. Take it away and they become a chew toy for a dragon like Perkisas.

The stronger abilities that Perkisas had though were saved for later in the fight. So for someone like Nicko, what he needed to do was simple. Stay away from Royal Javelin, attack after Phantom Edge since he would be wide open, keep away from the Nightmare Flames and use every ounce of strength and magic he had to fight back against Perkisas. Originally, this sounded impossible… but then again, he needed to pass these trials Glave had set up for him as quickly as he can to prepare himself for what was coming.

Originally, it seemed that everything was going the way Nicko would’ve hoped… However, he had a feeling that something about this whole fight was off. Like Perkisas was trying to lure him into a false sense of security. That was when he noticed his opponent disappear in a cloud of black smoke, appearing at the other end of the room. He expected for him to be launching his Javelins… but instead was greeted by a blazing blue orb of death going towards his face. “Oh SH-!!”

Immediately, he barreled out of the way like Amy was yelling in his head to dodge. But a small bit of the explosion from the orb caught his free arm, burning it a little as he gritted his teeth in order to overcome the pain. Which was a lot harder than it seemed because of the lingering after effects of the ability. It made it harder for Nicko to concentrate when he tried to brush off the pain and focus on fighting Perkisas.

However, the longer the fight went on… the harder it was for him to try and gain the upper hand. The methods used by this Perkisas were not the same as the one that Nicko had faced before in Elsword. But instead, it was using it’s abilities in ways that he didn’t think was possible. It was like it had it’s own level of intelligence to do anything it could to counter what the Rune Slayer had in store. Nevertheless, Nicko was persistent in his attempts to stop him as he watched Perkisas put a hand to his face, laugh menacingly, and teleport to his throne in the back of the room.

“Try to entertain me with your resistance…” The dragon mocked, snapping his fingers and summoning two things. One, a bunch of shadow like clones that looked too similar to the clones in the Temple of Trials. Two, what Nicko’s primary target was in that moment… a Nightmare Crystal. In the original Perkisas raid, destroying a nightmare crystal would take the player out of the nightmare realm and back into the present, while also providing them a chance to attack Perkisas while he was down. The catch though was that it needed to be destroyed within a 60 second time limit. Which meant that Nicko needed to pull out all the stops right now if he needed to get out.

However, the problem was that the shadow like clones were a little more specific this time around and when he looked closer, he just groaned to himself. “Aww come on, why do they have to be of Amy and everyone else?” He sighed, trying to make his way over. However, they were coming at him way too fast. Something that he originally thought was impossible. The doppelgangers were swarming him now as he tried to cast Wind Blade to clear a path, but only was partially successful.

Ten seconds have passed by this time and he was doing all that he could in order to fight. Even going as far as to activate his hyperactive skill, Shining Rune Buster, to clear out all the doppelgangers. But that didn’t last so long. Everytime he destroyed one, two more soon came afterwards. Time was beginning to fade as his chances of getting out of the nightmare now we’re really slim, the spellsword now dropping to one of his knees and trying to hold himself up. But it was in this moment that something was coming back to him now.

Something from his teacher, Ryu. Something that he learned from him, which now carried over to how he would fight now. Something inside of him began to awaken as he held onto his sword with two hands, swung it above his head, and released all the energy that was concealed within him. In Elsword, there was a mechanic in the game called the Awakening system that allowed the player to store charges and release them at a certain time for added strength and power. In fact, the mechanic was primary for any player who played as an Add centered character if they wanted to use their Nasod Armor. However, there was something with Nicko’s this time around that was different and when he released it, Perkisas himself even flinched.

“What the hell-?” While looking at the warrior, the dragon could now see the silhouette of a light blue haired man with weird clothes, a katana, and the same look that the Rune Slayer had on his face now. Leaving him stunned as the dragon saw Nicko perform three skills in rapid succession, with the leftover magic of the first two skills increasing the power of the final one.

Skill number one, Rising Slash. Skill number two, Sword Wave. The final skill, Splash Explosion, with it’s target being the crystal itself as the force of the rune’s detonation caused the crystal to break and shatter on impact. Freeing the Rune Slayer from the nightmare the dragon conjured.

In the abandoned halls of the once glorious city of Zin Dovah, Ember and one other dragon named Mina were slowly approaching the lair of the feared dragon that was Perkisas. When Ember had originally asked for any dragon to lend their assistance, most of them feared for their safety and the safety of their family and kin. Only Mina, a young dragoness who lived in a place called Dragontown and had been helping Ember after Spike introduced her to the dragon lord,was brave enough to join her and the two of them were trying to find answers for what Ember had just seen. As they went down the main hall, both of them began to notice bits, jewels, gold coins, and many treasures scattered throughout the room. Tempting as it may be to take one with them, both dragons did not let that distract them. They had come for answers after all, not priceless antiques.

Something though soon caught Mina’s attention as she tried to point out her findings to Ember. “Look, over there!” Ember turned to look in the direction where the dragoness’ claw was pointing to see exactly what she saw earlier… and could not believe she was seeing now.

Perkisas… The mighty incarnation of greed himself, covered in wounds, scars and his right horn was broken along with a ballista bolt in his right wing. Rendering the wing useless and making the dragon unable to fly. It was in a comatose like state, but all his wounds and everything were fresh. “That’s Perkisas for sure… I remember his description from the old stories… But who or what exactly was able to wound him?”

“What do you mean, Miss Ember?” The other dragoness asked.

“My father told me that when the dragons originally tried to defend themselves from him, they were not able to land a single scratch on him.” The Dragon Lord explained, looking down at the Bloodstone Scepter that was in her possession. “If that was so… then what could possibly land that many blows against him?” Her question was soon answered as a shadow like portal opened up, spitting out what she saw as a red haired human as it stood to his feet. Sword in hand and his power flowing around him. Ember was unsure about who it was, but could tell from the blade alone and the fact that some of the scratches and blood on the blade meant that he was the one who was able to harm this beast.

The human looked calm, but soon had to jump back as the dragon roared from it’s previous state, letting out a massive plume of flames that caused both Mina and Ember in their current locations to jump for cover. Followed by the massive beast giving out a menacing laughter. “PFFTHAHAHAHA!!! As I expected… You couldn’t pass the trial!!”

That… puzzled Ember. “Wait, what trial? What is he talking about-?”

“This is the END!!!!!!!” The dragon declared, drawing back to release a powerful breath of fire as it lashed forward, exhaling those flames towards the human. However, she didn’t see him run… but instead get down to his knees and somehow… vanish.

Immediately after Nicko was released from the nightmare, he knew exactly what was to come next. Perkisas would try to lash out with one last attack, but Glave would come in and pull him out of there. But… given that this was a trial, he seriously doubted that his displacer would come to rescue him at the last minute. So, he had to think of a plan B and quickly before Perkisas would come at him one last time. He stepped back a little, giving himself positioning as he looked back at the dragon that soon towered over him. Awake from its short slumber.

“PFFTHAHAHAHA!!! As I expected… You couldn’t pass the trial!!” Perkisas roared as it moved it’s head back and prepared to unleash it’s flames towards him. “This is the END!!!!!!!”

“Not today…” The Rune Slayer grinned, placing his hand on the floor as he looked back at the dragon. “I got a surprise for you.”

When he was in Ryu’s world as his student, the Kaiser taught him two very important lessons. One was about innovation, while the other was about chaining things in sequence. Innovation was so he could use his runes for more than just offensive capabilities, while chaining things in sequence (or otherwise known as [Chain]) resulted in the remaining power from one ability transferring over to the next, allowing it to happen two times so that by the third ability, it would be enhanced by the first two. Now though, Nicko was taking it one step further… and combining both of those teachings.

His first move was to use Splash Explosion below his feet, letting the force of the skill propel him high up into the air and allowing him a bird’s eye view over the dragon. Next, he used the same skill again, propelling him forward to place himself on a ledge behind Perkisas, giving him leverage in order to prepare for one final attack. However, he did not need to use a skill for this… he needed speed. He could tell that Perkisas had quick reaction time and that his previous attacks before were too easy for him to predict, so using a skill to have him move faster each time would mean that using it a third time on top of what he had used before… would mean that he would be moving faster than the dragon could react.

There was no time for screw ups… he had to do this. He channeled the skill, releasing it just as Perkisas turned around. But before the dragon could react, Nicko’s blade had already struck the final blow as he landed on the ground and confidently placed Ebalon on his back. The deed was done… and he prevailed.

“Heh… Not so tough now are you?”

All the dragon did was cripple in massive pain as his fire began to die out, growling in defiance as Perkisas’ body began to disintegrate. “...That I would be defeated by a mere human....!!” It was then that it recognized Nicko’s will and strength as it began to fall forward. “I see…” That was when it caught him by surprise. Somehow, it was able to fully launch itself into the air, even with a crippled wing, and charge to the ground after reaching the sky. “Listen worthy one… Try and withstand my final attack…!” For a moment, it had Nicko think that it was trying to do one last thing to harm him with his guard down… but instead, as it landed into the ground and the fire that spawned from it began to rise, the Rune Slayer did not see a corpse of a dragon when the flames died down. Instead, it saw a mighty greatsword shoved into the ground like it was Excaliber.

It was then though that Nicko actually noticed at the corner of his eye, someone else in the room. It was Glave and he was throwing his two cubes that were in his hands up and catching them when they came down. “I’d never thought I see the final moment of Perkisas… Sleep in peace Red King… Although I doubt that peace would be very long…” With it, Glave chuckled to himself, looking at Nicko as he walked up to the blade. “Tempting as this may be though… You won’t be needing a blade like this.”

“What do you mean?” Nicko asked, folding his arms.

“I said that you won’t be needing the blade… However,” He pointed out, the flames from the sword itself rising from the weapon as the metal shell fell to the ground. “Sometimes, it depends on what’s on the inside that counts. The blade is nothing without the power that remains from Perkisas, which can be easily put into your sword now… If I may, of course.”

Nicko had no words to answer Glave, but instead took out Ebalon and held it in front of him, letting the Displacer enchant the weapon as it’s physical form began to change on the outside. The silver metal on the blade was now an onyx black with a single red line tracing down the weapon and the swordguard now took on the form of two dragonwings. The bottom half of the weapon also changed too, the grip of the weapon being a fiery red and comfortable around Nicko’s hands.

“Now… before we continue… you might want to explain what happened to your… guests.” The Spellsword raised an eyebrow at that, but upon turning around, he could see exactly what his displacer meant as Glave disappeared. Now Nicko was looking at two dragonesses, one which held a scepter and was taller than the second one. But both of them had the same exact question for him.

“Who are you?”

The question was simple itself, but Nicko was unsure of how exactly he should answer. When meeting someone for the first time, his autism can affect how he interacts with someone new for the first time. He had originally thought that he would get over it and have it not bother him anymore, but what was going on now proved otherwise. Nevertheless, he had to respond. “I… would ask you the same thing honestly… If you tell me your names, I promise I will tell you mine.”

Both dragons looked at one another, conversing amongst themselves for a moment before responding to the Rune Slayer. “Very well… My name is Ember. I’m the Dragon lord here in the Dragon lands and also the leader of my kind.” The first one replied, followed by the second one coming up a little closer.

“I’m Mina! It’s a pleasure to meet you mister… Whoever you are.” She giggled, extending a claw for him to shake as Nicko put out his own hand in response.

“Well, my name is Nicko and it is a pleasure to meet the two of you… I have a couple of questions though,” He mentioned as he looked at Ember and Mina. “First… what are the Dragon lands… Second, what exactly brought you here?”

“The Dragon lands are our home… However, our home use to be the place we are in now,” Ember sighed. “Many years ago, the dragon lord at the time named Brisingr wanted to have peace with the neighboring kingdoms. However, one thing that he did not know was that there was something lurking underneath this very kingdom that disagreed with his views… and thought that dragonkind itself had gone soft. The being you faced, Perkisas, sent every dragon running in fear and as time passed, the dragon stole every one of the cherished treasures that the dragons held so dear… all except this.”

Nicko then noticed the dragoness motion her head towards the Scepter she was holding as the dragon continued to speak. “Over time though, the story of Perkisas began to fade with time… Now only used as a story to frighten hatchlings… But we still remember. The reason the dragons have migrated and wandered endlessly was because our original home was stolen from us… Now thanks to you, slayer of greed, our kind can finally come home.” He had to admit, being called that was amusing to him. But it wasn’t a title that he would want to be called consecutively.

“I… never knew that this was originally your home… But I’m glad that your kind can finally return here on your own.” He said, adjusting his shoulders as he stretched his fingers and let some mana go through his fingers. This though, surprised the two dragons that were there, even if they saw him use his abilities before.

“Thank you… Say, would you happen to be some kind of Spellcaster, mister Nicko?” The younger dragoness then asked, her curiosity beaming from her as he looked back at her.

“You could say that. However, my job class has me go by a different title,” He explained to them as he held out a small rune in his hand before having it disappear a few seconds later. “I’m a Rune Slayer. Think of it as warrior that knows both sorcery and swordsmanship.”

“Hmm… That sounds familiar… I remember Spike mentioning that in a story he was telling me…” Mina said, scratching her chin before looking back at Ember and having herself be lost in thought. However, it was Nicko who first replied on that topic.

“Wait… you know Spike?”

“Why yes… he is a dear friend of ours along with his equine companions,” Ember replied back since Mina was still in thought. “Do you happen to know them?”

“Yeah, they’re good friends with both my brother and I along with the rest of my friends and family.” The Rune Slayer replied. Now was what he saw as a good chance for him to take some time to tell them the entire story all the way up until now. Ironically, when he was finished, it turned out that Mina was thinking of the same thing… well, all the way up to Nicko’s stone imprisonment. Like with Anson telling the story to Faith, it appeared that Spike had told the story to several other friends in Equestria and the “Tale of the Twins” as it was called had gotten very popular amongst children and young adults.

“Well, that explains all of that…” Ember spoke up, personally unsure whether or not to believe some of the things that the spellsword had said. “Now… what are you going to do now?”

“Now?” He asked, pondering the question in his own head. “Well, I still have to do a couple of things… But there is one thing I would like to ask of you, Lord Ember,” When he said Ember’s title, the spellsword now was trying his best to be formal as he got down on one of his knees. “I would like for you to help Twilight and Spike… and the Princesses back in Equestria. The entire world is on the verge of a crisis like nopony… or no dragon for that matter has seen before. I believe that if we have any chance at all in being able to fight it, then all the races and species of the world, no matter their affiliations, need to stand together. The demons that lurk in the shadows are coming… planning to bring back their forgotten leader… and he wants to take over all of Equus for his own bidding… and we can’t let that happen.” He then took something out of his pocket. An insignia with a rune inscribed on it as he gave it to Ember. “If you show this to Twilight, then she will know that I sent you to her. Help them anyway you can… please.”

Ember took a while to think this over in her mind, but she only had one possible answer. “Very well… I will see how we can lend a claw the best way possible.” With it, Nicko nodded her head, walking away as he disappeared within a small burst of flames.

The Rune Slayer had conquered three trials… He had proven to overcome the wrath of nature, the swift rapids of water and the furious flames of fire… but he still had to finish the other three.

And unfortunately for him… Time was running out.

End Log 25

Log 26- The El Trials (Wind)

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Of Magic and Machines- The El Trials (Wind)

Unknown Location

Shortly after Nicko left the ruins of the fallen dignity Perkisas, the Rune Slayer and his Displacer now stepped into a familiar plane of existence as the Rune Slayer noticed the floating cubes surrounding him and his displacer staring into the void that looked as if space itself was being torn away. Pieces of debris that looked like asteroids were floating around a blue fissure that looked like a sun as a collection of floating cubes similar to the two that Glave would normally toss in the air from time to time were floating all around him. Nicko had been here once before when he first met his displacer along with Lord Dyntos, the god of the forge.

“Back in your domain again?” Nicko questioned. “I thought you were in a hurry for me to finish these trials.”

“I am…” Glave replied. “But I thought it would be best for you to gain some rest and also ask me any questions if something is confusing you. Consider it a small break.” Nicko was glad for that, but now that he mentioned it, a new thought had emerged in his head. It was something that came to his mind and something that he only realized now upon thinking about it a little more deeply.

“Thank you… But may I ask you something?” The Rune Slayer then said, having his Displacer turn around to look towards him. “You said that what was in store for me for when I finished these trials was a surprise… but during the last three trials, you had me up against nearly impossible odds that could almost straight up kill me… I know that these trials are suppose to test me, but what the hell are you even trying to test?”

The void dweller sighed, putting both of his cubes away as he looked at Nicko. To the spellsword though, he could not see the grin that was under Glave’s mask as he looked back at the Runic swordsman. “It is to test your limits… and see if you can go beyond them. The trials are my way of seeing if you are ready for something that no other displaced in your world has the opportunity to do just yet.” He explained, showing a new sigil to the Rune Slayer that he was unfamiliar with. “The strength to transcend.”

“Transcend?” Nicko asked, looking back at Glave in confusion as the void dweller let out a deep sigh.

“You wanted to find a way to master your powers, yes?” The keeper asked, getting a nod in response from Nicko. “Well, along with everything you know now, Transcendence would allow your awakening skill that you used in the last trial to reach new heights. Now… for making it halfway, let me give you a reward.” The two cubes in Glave’s hand began to glow and to the Rune Slayer’s surprise, his skill book that contained Starswirl’s notes and everything else also glowed along with it. Hastily, he flipped the pages of the book… and found himself something that he never thought was possible.

There were new skills imprinted in the pages of the book. Not ones that he would write that was a copy of something he had seen or some other variation, but a series of four new skills with two other ones that looked to be sealed off. Upon reading it further, he soon discovered that these skills would increase his power greatly and allow for him to unleash his moves in a variety of different ways.

“The two skills that are sealed, Liberated Will: Rune Slayer and Specialization you will earn upon completing the trials. Luckily, I’ve decided to speed up the process,” He said, looking at the Rune Slayer. “I’m combining the last two trials together into a single one. Along with that, you demonstrated some of the skills that I was looking for with the Trial of Wind when you were facing Perkisas.” Nicko himself breathed a sigh of relief in that moment, but then heard Glave finish what he was saying. “However, it does not exactly mean that you are done just yet.”

“I had a feeling that there was some kind of catch.” The warrior replied as he leaped off of the floor and proceeded to ask the first question that came into his head. “So what will the rest of the trial consist of?”

“I’m sending you to a village in the skies above Saddle Arabia that goes by the name of Casulo to meet the village elder,” Glave explained, having his cubes emit a azure light that took the form of what appeared to be a grown pegasus stallion with a brown beard and was in white combat garbs, a turban with two golden feathers going around the back of it, hanging by the back of the pony’s neck and has an aquamarine sword that was long and hooked around like a crescent. There were several other ponies in different types of clothes that the Rune Slayer could recognize from before he was displaced. “His name is Karu and I told him to be expecting you. He will test your skills in combat to see if you can move on to the final test I have for you.”

“And I guess that you want proof of my victory?” Nicko asked, thinking that the answer to the question was obvious, but he still wanted to know anyways. It was better for him to walk into a situation with as much information as possible instead of missing important bits and pieces that could really affect how he would perform once the trial began. It was one of the things he had to do on occasion because his autism heavily impacted his memory from time to time.

“One of the crystals that represents their tribe and also is a representation of a wind el shard should be sufficient.” He said as he snapped a finger and a doorway soon opened to the desert ravine that Glave was taking his Displaced, along with changing his appearance so it resembled the normal appearance of a Rune Slayer and nothing fancy this time around. “I wish you the best of luck… Try out your new skills if you get the chance.”

“Easier said than done.” The Rune Slayer groaned to himself as he walked through the gate. Out of the total six skills that he had received; two of them were sealed off, one was a passive trait, one was an active skill and the other two were what they were described as special active skills in Elsword. One can tell the difference because the Special Active and Hyperactive skills were the ones that always showed the character’s portrait upon activation. However, this wasn’t like the game, despite some of the similarities these last few trials had.

The four skills he did know were as followed. Enchant Break, Triple Saber, Overs Geyser with the passive trait being called Magic Coating… which provided a boost to Nicko’s abilities to resist all types of elemental magic. Enchant Break was an active skill that was essentially the Rune Slayer’s way of backhanding an opponent… or go by the name of a song by the Prodigy. But it did more than just leave a brutal bruise on the opponent… If the attack were to connect with an opponent, the skill would have a foes resistance to magic drop all the way down to zero. Triple Saber, the first of two new special active skills, could be seen as an alternative to his other primary skill Splash Explosion. The only difference was that upon activating the rune, three magic swords from different directions home in on the rune and shatter it, with damage being delivered from both the rune and also the swords.

Just as he was about to read over the final skill though, a voice caught his attention as he placed the book away and looked up to see the pegasus chief that Glave had only talked about a few moments beforehand. His arms were folded and his gaze was completely stern and strict, causing Nicko to start acting serious as he formally bowed to him. “Great Chief Karu… It is an honor to meet you.”

“So you are the Rune Slayer that I have been hearing about…” The pegasus grumbled, unfolding his arms for a moment. “To be honest…”

“Don’t say it. Don’t you DARE say it!!!”

“I never thought one of your kind would come all the way out here to see me,” The chieftains response was way different than what Nicko honestly thought he was going to say. Like completely different. Which had him breath a momentary sigh of relief. “After all I have heard in Equestria about the humans that lived there, I was to assume that your kind was a species of troublemakers and misfits.” Nicko knew right away that somehow, this guy must have been talking about Amy, Molly and Jane. It would be of no coincidence since most of the international incidents that involved Equestria somehow involved the three of them.

“If you mean my friends, then let me assure you that I am not like them at all, sir.” Nicko replied as he then noticed the chief's sword that was holstered at his waist… and the motion of the stallion’s hand that was grasping hold of the blade’s grip.

“Around these parts, actions speak louder than words,” The chief remarked as he unsheathed his blade. “But first, I would like you to state your name. One such stranger said that a person like you would come… but he never said who you were.”

“My name is Nicko…” He simply informed the stallion as he drew his own weapon and looked back at him. Judging from the stallion, the notion in his head right now was that this stranger that Karu told him about must have been Glave. “Did this stranger say anything else along with me coming here?”

“Why yes… He also mentioned that you had come seeking for something. Perhaps like this?” Karu replied, taking a crystal out of the leather pouch on his waist as the stallion saw the spellsword nod his head. “I can give it to you… however, in order for you to obtain what you seek, you must prove to me how strong you through a trial by combat.” The stallion readied himself as he lifted the blade above his head as currents of air began to flow around his hands, wings and the weapon’s crystalline edge. The Rune Slayer himself got ready, bringing out his own blade as he firmly gripped it’s edge and stared down his opponent. However, all this did was cause the chief to move first as a vertical slash caused Nicko to step backwards and drop down to dodge the blade fully.

“Holy Sh-! That was fast!!” The spellsword cursed mentally as he barreled to the right and dodged the next two attacks, parried the third that came shortly afterwards and used Sword Wave to not only try to hit him, but also to push his opponent back. He had almost forgot about the fact that with this pegasus being like the boss in Elsword, the blade had an extensively long reach along with the fact that his main attack was a three swing combo that could catch others off guard unexpectedly. However something did not seem right. Normally, Nicko would be able to see the impact of Sword Wave on his opponent every time he used it... but when the dust settled, the spellsword did not see a scratch on him at all… and he was sure that he had a direct hit.

“It’s going to take a lot more than that in order to defeat me!” The stallion said, planting his hooves on the ground as more air was beginning to form around him. This, made Nicko realize exactly what he was up against. The Great Chief used wind, that was obvious. But how he used it was another story entirely. He soon had a good feeling of how exactly Karu was able to dodge his blows, but not get hit by his own attacks. The wind around his blade allowed the pegasus to reach out to extensive lengths and damage him for a considerable amount, but the chief also used the same wind as a small buffer around himself to protect him in case of harm and also an accelerator to quicken the stallion’s attack speed and reaction time. Something that Nicko had not seen before and needed to figure out a way to get around it if he didn’t want his opponent to dice him up into tiny pieces.

But to do that, he had to come up with some sort of plan and quickly. “Crap, he’s too fast for me right now…” He thought to himself, pondering something in his head as he reflected back on the previous trial. “Hmm… maybe I could use the same method from before to match his speed… I guess it’s my only shot at this rate since I am running out of options.” The Rune Slayer needed to be faster than his opponent if he wanted to counter any of the numerous attacks and abilities that Karu had at his disposal. Like in Elsword, most of Karu’s abilities were attacks that revolved around Wind and his blade. Including an attack that resembled Bloody Accel, a skill that a Blade Master would know and use all the time. But, Nicko remembered one thing about it that might help him.

If he could time his attacks to hit his opponent when he had any openings, then that could result in him getting the upper hand in this fight. That and also the new powers that he had at his disposal. The first step he needed to take though, was to outmaneuver Karu’s attacks. A task that was somewhat challenging and also somewhat irritating in the beginning, but also provided an opportunity to test one of his newest skills.

The Rune Slayer waited til Karu was preparing to charge his next strike, allowing for himself to prepare as well as he used Splash Explosion to launch himself forward the moment that the Chief unleashed his attack. Once behind him, Nicko used the same skill again to get within striking range of his opponent… then, as the crimson aura that was the Spirit of Destruction was triggered, he unleashed one of the newest skills in his arsenal as a rune formed on Karu’s back and three swords of magic materialized in the air before going forth and striking the rune.

“TRIPLE SABER!!”

The attack, combined with Nicko’s Spirit of Destruction, dealt a heavy blow to Karu and successfully broke through his defenses as the pegasus stumbled backwards onto the ground. But Nicko’s opponent was not done yet… Not by a long shot. Using the air around him, he was quick to returning to his feet as Karu used a conjured twister to kick up some dust and interfere with Nicko’s field of vision. But the chief was doing this for more than just that as the force of the winds began to intensify and the Rune Slayer began to notice what he was doing.

There were four tornados around them as the spellsword’s opponent began to pull his hands together, causing the force of the twisters to move Nicko closer to his opponent. Causing him to realize what the chieftain was doing. He was using Wind Shock, the primary attack that the same boss would use in Elsword. He had little time to react as he held up his blade in defense, still feeling the backlash of the winds around him cutting his arms as he was pushed to the edge of the floating platform they were fighting each other on.

On one knee and with blood dripping from some of his wounds as they were slowly healing themselves, Nicko looked up to see Karu staring him down with his sword on his shoulder and him looking back at Nicko… Unimpressed. “Do you yield now, little one?” That comment… triggered something in the Rune Slayer that would soon determine the outcome of the battle as he began to stand back up on his feet, the aura around him still visible as magic began to form from his hands.

“That’s it…” He growled. Knowing that the previous time his attack with Triple Saber was effective to break Karu’s guard was one thing… But he also had the feeling that the chieftian would not fall for the same trick twice. Gritting his teeth, he curled his wrists and cast Splash Explosion on his feet as he shot himself forward. Karu’s first reaction was to turn behind him and openly slash his blade, but was surprised to see that nothing was there. The Rune Slayer wasn’t anywhere around him, nor was there anything to hide behind. So where could he be?

However, when he realized Nicko’s strategy, it was too late. The Chieftain looked up at the last possible second to see a powerful force of flames and magic glowing from the Rune Slayer’s blade as he slashed forward in the air towards the ground below. The impact triggering his newest… and most strongest skill that he knew.

“OVERS GEYSER!!!”

The impact of the Rune Slayer’s sword was followed by a shockwave of both fire and fury as dozens of flaming swords rose from the ground. Shredding through his opponent’s defenses and disarming him of his weapon. Earlier in the fight, Nicko knew two things upon observing Karu’s attacks and abilities and used them to his advantage. First; despite his reaction time, the chieftain did not anticipate any form of aerial attacks from his opponent, and Second; despite how Karu did use his wind powers for defense, he could not defend himself from any attacks that would come from underneath him.

Overs Geyser worked out perfectly in this instance. It was a lot like an old skill that he was no longer able to use called Rising Wave, but it was a lot more powerful and effective in combat… and this was proof on how capable it was. Now it was Nicko’s turn to look at his downed opponent as he firmly stood tall, despite being sore of all the mana he just used as he looked at Karu with a firm stare before offering a hand to help him up. “Piece of advice… Never call me little.”

“Heh… My apologies then,” The chieftain coughed as he took the extended hand and had the Rune Slayer help him up. Taking out a jewel in his pocket, he soon handed the gemstone to Nicko. “You beat me fair and square… Therefore, this belongs to you as proof of your victory. May the winds guide you on your travels, young Rune Slayer.”

“Same to you, Great Chief.” Nicko acknowledged the compliment as he used his magic to return back to the void where Glave was now. When the Rune Slayer returned, all he saw him do was have Glave clap his hands in acknowledgement of his victory.

“Well done. Now you have one last trial to complete before you are ready for what lies ahead.” That though, caused Nicko to raise an eyebrow as he folded his arms and looked back at his Displacer.

“Hang on a minute… You told me that there were six trials. If I remember correctly, that one was number four.”

“Did you forget what I told you originally?” Glave then retorted as the cubes in his hands spun around. “I’m speeding up the process. The El Trial’s of Light and Dark I am combining into one single trial. It does not mean that the trial would be any easier than the ones that you have already faced… In fact, I may be bending the original rules a little because of where you are going.” Nicko just raised an eyebrow, staring back at his displacer in confusion as he tilted his head.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your final trial is taking place in a mirror world similar to this one. However, every pony and creature in this world is a human over there. A lot of things have changed and also cause changes to whoever travels between both realms, but with your magic being this powerful, you won’t end up having the same side effects that your friend Amy would have.” Glave explained as he showed Nicko what happened. Apparently, when Amy traveled with Twilight a few years ago to this place, she came back with the side effect of beginning to turn into a pony. However, Selena had been assisting her in hiding that change by providing a disguise spell to hide the changes as they tried to find a way to reverse the effects. “There is also one other catch with this trial though that you should be aware of.”

“Oh?” Nicko then questioned as he looked back at the Void Dweller. “What’s that?”

“The past few times I’ve told you what to do in order to complete the trials… This time, you need to problem solve and figure it out for yourself. You’ll have as much time as you need, but remember that time is of the essence and also very precious.” Glave sighed, closing his eyes as his cubes glowed once more and began to fill the room with a bright and blinding light. “Stay safe, Nicko.”

Meanwhile,

It was a hot and blistering summer afternoon as a group of friends decided to meet up at the small home that belonged to Sunset Shimmer. It had been some time since they had last seen Twilight from Sunset’s world and since then, her group of friends had grown significantly. Now though, they were trying to beat the heat by staying indoors and catching up on how had things had been since they had gone camping in the Everfree Forest for the summer. Some of them though, were by the kitchen table as the one known as Scootaloo was setting up a collection of board game pieces along with some multi sided die.

“Alright, the game is set. Now pick your characters and we can begin the adventure.” Scootaloo said. “Since I was the one who brought over Castle and Chimeras and everyone may be new to this, I’ll be the Castle master and telling today’s story-.”

“Wait, why the hell are we playing a kids game?” Her older sister, Rainbow Dash asked as she took another drink of her soda.

“Oh, you know because you promised and SHUT THE HELL UP, RAINBOW!” Scootaloo snapped, flaring an angry glare at her before one of the other girls spoke up as she was about to write in the journal she had on her.

“Scootaloo…” Sunset groaned before staring at her friend across the table. “She’s right though, shut up.” With that comment out of the way, Scootaloo sighed as she set out a collection of mini figurines out on the table. She had always wanted to get the chance to do this with more than just her friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle and right now, besides her, a few others were playing with them while Twilight was out with Fluttershy taking Spike out on a walk.

“Now, we get to pick your characters,” She described. “We have the Noblesses, the Mastermind, the Infinity Sword, the Crimson Avenger-.”

“Dibs!” Rainbow declared as she pulled the mini figurine of a certain someone they knew as she grinned a little and looked at Sunset. “Names Amy… I’m a badass to the point that I give Sunset nightmares in her sleep.”

“You didn’t even hear her say the rest of the characters Rainbow.” Sunset groaned, praying for her friend to listen to reason.

“Like I said… Dibs!” All that caused Scootaloo to do was sigh as Applejack sat down next to her sister Applebloom at the table. After that brief interruption, Scootaloo still continued to speak up and label the character classes.

“O… kay. To round things out, we have the Deadly Chaser, the Rune Slayer, the Dreadlord and Chiliarch and to round things out, the Sakra Devanam.”

“Ah have a question,” Applejack spoke up as everyone was now facing her. “Why do all of these characters look somewhat familiar?”

“Well, Amy and her friends on the other side of the Mirror sent this as a Hearth's Warming gift a couple of years ago,” Scootaloo explained. “Yet, Rainbow always said that she was too busy to play because of things going on like the Friendship Games and what not… Now that we don’t have anything like that happening, we could finally get the chance to play together as a group.”

“Aw yeah, prepare to watch me win this game.”

“If that were the case, then it would truly be beginners luck,” Applejack snickered, turning around at the sound of the door opening as she watched Twilight and Fluttershy walk into the room. “Hey girls. Welcome back!”

“Thanks Applejack,” Twilight replied, unhooking the leash from Spike’s color as the dog soon yawned and passed out on his bed. “What’s going on here?”

“We’re getting ready to play Castles and Chimeras and get this… Rainbow thinks she’s going to win the game.” Sunset explained to them as they walked on over.

“Hey! I know I’m going to win with Amy!” She declared, knocking over some of the figures as one of them fell onto the floor by Twilight’s feet.

“Consarnit, Rainbow. Can you try to be a little more careful next time?” Applejack asked her friend as she looked back at her.

“Hehe...sorry about that.” She replied, looking back at Applejack as Twilight picked up the figure that by her feet. However, what she said next surprised just about everyone in the entire room at that moment.

“Hey, I think I remember seeing this guy earlier while we were walking Spike. His clothes are even the same.” Twilight’s words though, soon drew a bunch of blank stares in her general direction as she tilted her head in confusion. “What, was it something I said?”

“You meet someone that look like the figure we’re using in the game we’re playing?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t have the sword or anything… However, we did feel something from him… Like when Sunset had used magic during the Friendship Games… but like… five times the intensity.” Twilight said, guessing the numbers in her head. “Why, is something wrong?”

“ …… Game night over. You’re taking us to meet this person you saw right now-.”

“Aww come on, Rainbow!” Scootaloo complained. “You promised!!”

“There there, Scoot. We can just play without her for now,” Applejack suggested, switching out the figurine that Rainbow was going to use for another one. “Matter of fact, I can take Rainbow’s place. However, I’ll have Amy be this Blazing Heart fellow right here.”

“Oh no you’re not! She’ll remain as the Crimson Avenger!”

“Girls… why don’t you just settle it by rolling the dice?” Sunset proposed, picking up the twenty sided die and handing it to Rainbow. “Whoever gets the higher number determines the outcome for…… Amy.”

“Okay.” Rainbow sighed, rolling the die as it landed on the game board. “Nice, I got seventeen. In your face, AJ!” The farm girl just smirked as she picked up the die and rolled it this time. However, what she got startled Rainbow.

“Yeehaw! Twenty!! Looks like ah win that one!”

“Wait what!?” She protested. “I don’t know how, but she must be cheating… There’s no way that she can be both good in class and this good at a board game!”

“Tough luck sugarcube. You lost, so that means I get Amy.” In that moment, AJ noticed one of their other friends, Pinkie Pie, giggle a little as she was busy baking treats in the kitchen. “See? Pinkie even thinks its funny.”

“Nah! I’m not laughing at that, silly!” She proclaimed, setting the timer on the oven as she walked over. “I’m giggling at the fact that the figure that you guys were talking about a few minutes ago just past by the front of Sunset’s house.”

“What the fu-!?!” Rainbow immediately raced towards the nearest open window she could find and stared out at it. Seeing exactly who Pinkie was talking about as her eyes widened. What Twilight said was true… But why exactly would this kid be here though is another story…

And it was something that she planned to find out.

End Log 26

Author's Notes:

Moving right along with this next one now as the final trial is getting closer. Tell me how you guys think of it so far? I really would like to know your guys input on it... Oh right, I almost forgot to clarify something.

The new skills mentioned in this chapter is part of the "Transcendence" event that is going on right now on the Korean version of Elsword. The Transcendence system allows for a character past level 70 to obtain new passive, active and special active skills by having the character of that class go beyond their limits. Since it is only available for Elsword, Aisha, Rena, and Raven right now, I decided to implement this into the trial process as a way to show how much Nicko himself has grown in strength as a Rune Slayer.

Also, with the next chapter, it is important to note that Sunset... well... is terrified of Amy after she ~~savagely beat her to a bloody pulp~~ showed her "dark side" to her a LONG time ago. I'll leave ElementBrigade to the explaining once the time comes... oh and thanks EB for helping me write the last portion.

The roleplaying part was mostly inspired by this since I am playing the Assault on Dragon Keep DLC for Borderlands 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iB8EaDeyuQ

Log 27- The El Trials (Light and Dark)

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Of Magic and Machines- The El Trials (Light and Dark)

The first thing that Nicko felt as he landed back on solid ground was himself crashing into a tree at what he saw as a neighborhood park. However… this place was something that he was very unfamiliar with. In fact, it was kind of strange to him now that he thought about it. Mostly because a lot of the ponies that he would normally see in the background just minding their own business were now doing the same thing here… as humans. If you considered cartoonish pastel versions of them being similar that is.

However, he wasn’t here for taking in the sights. In fact, there wasn’t even any time for that. The Rune Slayer was brought here by his displacer because he had a task to complete, so he couldn’t afford to waste time on observing his surroundings… Getting off of the ground, he began to walk around the area, placing his hands in his pockets as he passed by a pair of girls that oddly reminded him of Twilight and Fluttershy back home. His current focus right now was to try and find anything that could serve as a potential clue for what he needed to do.

“There’s some… odd trace of… magic here? But that doesn’t make any sense…” Nicko thought to himself. Something to him was beginning to feel off to him as he began to walk to where he felt faint traces of magic nearby. However, where he felt those traces coming from was another story.

Looking at the sign in front of a large building, the only thing he could do was facepalm himself as he read the sign. “Canterlot High… Really? Why is it that all mysterious things happen in a freaking high school!? What’s next? Some cliche’ anime plot twist?” The school itself looked closed from the outside, but one of the doors of the facility was hanging open as he got closer. “Great… It’s like something wants me to be here. Fan-freaking-tastic.”

As the Spellsword stepped inside though, the faint traces he was feeling before were becoming a bit stronger. Strong to the point that he could possibly identify the type of magic it was if he had the time. But the odd thing that was different about the traces of magic this time was that he could actually hear something this time. A voice. Something… or someone in order to trace it back too… and the creepy part about it was that it sounded like if Twilight went bats**t crazy. As he went around the back of the schoolyard, the magic was beginning to feel stronger… but now he could actually see someone lying on the ground. It looked like a girl that was… well like a ghost or spirit… and deeply upset by something. It didn’t even notice him approach her until he got closer to where she was.

The strangest part about it though was that this girl… almost resembled Twilight. Just her skin was darker and her hair was different from before. “Miss, are you okay?”

She didn’t seem to register the fact that he had spoken to her. She eventually realised he was talking to her and her eyes widened. “M-me?”

“Uh yeah… You seem upset. Is something troubling you?” He asked, kneeling down around the same level where she was at. The girl still seemed shocked, backing away for only a moment… before thinking of a question that dawned on her.

“Y-you can see me?”

Nicko himself raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking back at her before speaking again. “Uhh… yeah I can… My name’s Nicko. What’s yours?” He asked her, causing the young girl to hesitate before looking back at the Rune Slayer… nervously.

“M-Midnight… M-my name is Midnight…” She said, looking around with a worried glance on her face as her form began to shake a little. “You shouldn’t be here.”

That confused the Spellsword as he looked back at Midnight and tried to speak again. “Wait a minute, what do you mean by that? I want to help you-.”

“Yes, but since you are here and you found me, it won’t be long until she shows up… Run, please. I’m begging you, get out of here while you still can!” Midnight pleaded with him while Nicko barely even understood what she was talking about or why she was freaking out all of a sudden. His question was soon answered by the feeling of another source of magic nearby. Unlike Midnights, which felt cool and calm, this one was extremely warm and felt like burning fire. And it was approaching them rather quickly.

“Midnight!” A female voice screamed, sounding angered and exhausted.

“No no no no… not now… Please not now…” She prayed to herself, only causing Nicko to tense up and scan the area for anything out of the ordinary. He didn’t seem to see anything yet, but he wasn’t going to assume that it was some sort of trick. Especially after hearing that banshee like voice just now scream Midnight’s name.

“Why’d you run off? Things were getting good!” The voice sounded like it was getting closer.

“Things weren’t getting good!” Midnight panicked, backing away. “You made me watch a helpless kid get beaten by bullies! That isn’t what I wanted!!”

A crimson skinned woman with red and yellow hair walked around the corner of a nearby building. She had teal irises with black scleras. “Dear, you’ll get used to this… I did. You just need a push to become stronger.”

“But I don’t want revenge!! I just want to be forgiven. I wasn’t myself then and-.”

“But I DO!!! They ruined us!” The demon-like woman screamed, eyes flashing yellow for a moment. Midnight cowered in fright… but what happened next was what surprised both of them the most. The Rune Slayer, who was only observing just a few minutes ago, stepped in between them and was coming to Midnight’s defense.

“What-?” She started moving around him so that she could see Midnight. However, Nicko backtracked his steps, still blocking her.

“W-what?” Midnight stuttered, noticing the Spellsword actually coming to her defense. “W-why?” Nicko was silent, but then sighed as he looked to her.

“Because I’m doing what I believe is right.” He said calmly, before fiercely staring down Sunblight as he looked back at her, a small glow emanating from his right hand. “Now… either back off… or this will hurt.”

“... How are you seeing me!? And for that matter, why are you so short!?” The demon-like woman asked. All that did was cause Nicko to grit his teeth as the glow became brighter, forming a rune of magic in his hands.

“I warned you… Yet you didn’t listen…” The Rune Slayer quickly cast the rune in front of him, channeling his magic into the skill he knew as Splash Explosion as the rune detonated in womans face and sent her tumbling backwards in response.

She hit the ground hard, and there was a cracking sound, followed by a muffled screech. The woman curled up into a ball before getting back up on her feet. Stunned and surprised that somehow, this person was not only able to see her and Midnight… but also was able to harm her as well.

She ended up getting away, leaving only eardrops and dissolving blood on the ground as Nicko looked back at Midnight, who was too stunned to speak or even respond to him actually hurting her sister. “Sorry about that… Midnight, do you know any place where we can stay and lay low for the time being? Something tells me that our scuffle just now might’ve attracted some unnecessary attention.” The girl nodded, looking back at him before having her transparent hand set down on his shoulder… and both of them disappearing from sight before anyone else could show up.

And just before three friends could get the chance to ask him any questions. “Ah dammit! We missed him!!”

“What? How!?”

“I don’t know Sunset! He was there a minute ago and then POOF! He disappeared.” The Rainbow haired girl told her as she looked back at her friends, sighing in defeat before coming up with something that was in her head. “Do you still have your journal by chance? Something tells me we’re going to need the help of a princess to get to the bottom of this.”

When Nicko opened his eyes again, the first thing that he saw was what looked like an old dorm room at some sort of academy. There were staples still on the walls, unused science equipment still laying around all over the place and cobwebs on the furniture as Midnight soon sighed. When the Rune Slayer turned to her, he actually noticed that she was smiling a little. “Thank you… for helping me…” She said softly before looking back at him. “J-just how were you able to harm her like that?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure myself…” Nicko replied. “My skills and magic I’ve learned by myself and have always spent time practicing… Though I honestly expected that skill to somehow not work given that she almost looked like a… a…” Now was when he looked back at Midnight, even more confused. “Well, where are we? … And what are you anyways? You look like a ghost but… I don’t exactly want to call you that if there’s another term for it.”

She giggled a little, looking back at him before sighing. “That… may be hard to explain… But to clear things up, one… we’re at Twilight’s old room at Crystal Prep before she transferred to Canterlot High… two, I’m not a ghost… I’m not even a spirit… I’m what you may call a manifestation.”

“Manifestation?” Nicko then asked, raising an eyebrow. “Could you explain what that means exactly? Matter of fact, who is that person?”

“That… was Sunblight,” She replied, looking a little down on herself while doing so. “She is a manifestation like I am… and she see’s my sister… However, I don’t want to be with her… Manifestations like us form from excess amounts of emotions that take over when mixed with magic. For Sunblight, she was formed from the pride of someone named Sunset Shimmer and an artifact that was stolen from Equestria-.”

“Woah, hold on a minute,” Nicko interjected. “You two know about Equestria?”

“O-of course… Our… well… the first manifestation, who Sunblight see’s as our mother, was formed there thousands of years ago from Prince Artemis. However, unlike us, she had a physical form.”

“Holy crap, you’re talking about Selena.” Nicko said to himself aloud, not realizing that Midnight was actually listening to him in that present moment. “N-nevermind that… Please, continue with what you’re saying.”

“R-right… Sunblight was formed from Sunset Shimmer’s pride and the Element of Magic… while I was formed from magic that was stolen along with the eagerness of a young girl here named Twilight Sparkle… My only hope was that one day, I could actually live alongside others in peace… But it was then I realized that I’m nothing more than a parasite. Now, I just only want forgiveness for what I had done in the past… but Sunblight… She never listens to me… and is obsessed over revenge.”

“Revenge? Revenge over what?” The Rune Slayer asked curiously before Midnight cleared her throat and began to speak.

“Originally before she was formed here, Sunblight wanted to be able to live in Equestria just like Nightmare Moon… but Nightmare did not approve of it and instead abandoned her, leaving her to be banished here by Starswirl the bearded.” The name soon rang a bell in Nicko’s head as he got up and got out the skill book that he kept on him. Realizing something.

“Well no wonder I was able to hurt her… My magic originated from Starswirl.”

“I-it did… Wow…” Midnight was at a loss for words as she looked at the human. “Uh… Nicko right?”

“Yes Midnight? What is it?” He asked the Manifestation as she looked back at him.

“Um… I’m a little embarrassed to ask this…” Midnight said, blushing a little. “But can you be my friend? Please?” Nicko honestly never expected to hear such a question from him, but nonetheless, he kept his calm and smiled.

“Of course I can.” He assured her. “You can be my friend too… And I know this might seem impossible, but I’ll do whatever I can to find the forgiveness that you seek.” Midnight in that moment was beyond overjoyed, wanting to try and hug the Rune Slayer, even if her body ended up phasing through him. It was kind of silly to her to think about it, but now she hopefully was able to do something good for once.

Elsewhere,

Sunblight fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. Her jaw was broken broken, slowly healing from his injury. Next to her appeared Sunset Shimmer, who had a knowing smirk on her face.“You’re too weak, fletchling.” She said.

“No… I’m not weak! I’ll finish what you started Sunset! Equestria will be ours!” Sunblight desperately shouted.

Sunset chuckled cruelly. “You’re a deluded fool. I never wanted to share Equestria with you. I didn’t even care about you. I still don’t, and never will. You’re nothing to me. You’re nothing to Midnight. Nobody even knows you exist.”

“No… It can’t be… You’re wrong!” Sunblight cried. “If you won’t rule with me, I'll rule Equestria by myself!”

Sunset laughed coldly, which caused Sunblight’s heart to shrivel up. “That’s just it! You’re alone! You have no friends, family, and everyone hates you! They used your image as an example of things they’ve triumphed over!” Sunset’s smile only grew. “You’re also a failure! You couldn’t get me power, and part of what made you defeated you! You couldn’t even succeed in killing yourself!”

“I… I had Midnight… I wasn’t alone anymore…” Sunblight cried. “I… I could be seen as… Me…”

“There is no you. And did you see how she reacted to that guy hurting you? She wasn’t worried. She was relieved. You heard her reaction.” Sunset said, her words stinging like poison that flooded through her non existent body.

“NO!!! No! No…! No… It… She cares about me…” Sunblight attempted to deny what was said to her before she silenced herself.

“She doesn’t think of you as family. She hid from you. She wants to abandon you… Just like I did.” Sunset said, before walking through the wall of an abandoned building. Fading into nothingness and causing the manifestation to fall further into her emotions.

“Wait! Please don’t leave me! I can’t be alo-” Sunblight pleaded, but froze. It was in that moment that she realized the truth. Everything made sense to her now… When she first met her sister, she just assumed that she was going to care for her. But Midnight never cared.

Sunblight kicked the door open to the abandoned building, sobbing as she screamed inside. Anger, pain and sorrow flooded her emotions, before she ended up taking a sharp piece of wood and walked deeper into the building and up the stairwell towards the roof.

“No one could ever love a demon… You showed me that, Midnight… I know now, I’m meant to be unloved.” Sunblight looked at the wood, thoughts of ending it all flooded her head before she had the sharp piece of wood disappear. “I’ll save that for later… First… I’ll kill him… I’ll kill Midnight… I’ll kill everyone on Earth! Then Equestria!!! Hahahahahaaa!!!” Sunblight started laughing while crying uncontrollably. She swore to herself in that moment… that nothing will stop her from reaching the end goal. Nothing will stop her… from killing the one named Nicko Nocte.

“What the hay do you mean you three lost him!?” Applejack asked, shocked after hearing the girls explain how their search lead to Nicko escaping from them without a trace.

“Hey, he has magic and stuff. It not like we can track him down or anything.” Rainbow groaned, having to explain to her the whole thing again. “Geez, now thinking on it, he’s similar to Amy in the fact that is unpredictable.”

“Honestly, can we not talk about the one person that is a walking horror show?” Sunset asked, “We’re getting off track with this. We need to find him and see what’s going on… because something tells me that wherever he goes, trouble is not that far behind.”

“And how are we supposed to find him? It’s not like we have a way to track him down.”

“You may have a point there… We don’t have a way of tracking him down… But we might know someone who can,” Sunset replied, taking a pen out of her pocket as she clicked it and began to write a short message in the book. “There. I sent Twilight a letter, asking to see if there is any sort of way she can help us.”

“Sort of help us?”

“She is busy with being a princess after all Rainbow,” Rarity pointed out to her. “Why didn’t you think she showed up until after the Friendship Games were done?”

“Rarity brings up a valid point,” Applejack added to it, looking back at Rainbow before sitting down on a nearby couch. “Hopefully, we don’t get any added visitors along with her if she does come on over here like last time.”

“And you just jinxed it.”

“Rainbow, we didn’t even-.” Sunset mentioned before noticing the book glow and opened it up. “Well, it seems like she can help… despite some challenges in Equestria, she can spare some time to help us and will be arriving momentarily-.” It was in that moment that the door to her home was blown off the hinges and flew to the other side of the room as it showed Twilight outside… with someone else with her.

“Oh horseapples…”

“Boom, I’m back chuckleheads!” A familiar voice declared as she stepped into the house and fist bumped Rainbow on the way in.

“This must be this Amy that you are talking about then?” The other Twilight, who was with Spike and Fluttershy said as she looked back at Rainbow and the other girls.

“Holy S**T!! TWO EGGHEADS!!”

“Amy, please restrain yourself…” The equestrian Twilight, who was wearing a hoodie and jeans sighed. This only resulted in a growl from Amy as both of them looked back at Sunset. “So Sunset… you said that you needed our help?”

“Well yes, as it turns out, we found someone from your world here…” Sunset told them, looking at the other Twilight as she looked back at the others and explained what she saw earlier while walking Spike. Followed by Rainbow and her dramatic retelling of what happened while trying to track down the Rune Slayer they saw earlier.

“Figures that guy would wonder off to lord knows where. You think he would stay in one place for once in his life.” That just led to her Twilight rolling her eyes as she caught Amy’s attention with that single gesture.

“Says the same person who we needed to make an entire list of things that you are not allowed to do… Plus, unlike you, he may have a reason for actually being wherever he goes.” The princess sighed. “Still, like you, he’s a magic user and the best way to start is to come up with some sort of device that can trace magic so we may know where he went.”

“Or just use a tracking spell on this piece of hair I got from him while he wasn’t looking a while back.”

“Uhh… That looks more like your hair, Amy.” Rainbow pointed out for her, seeing how similar both of their hair colors were. “We do know what he looks like though… Remember that game you sent to us for Hearth's Warming Amy? Castles and Chimeras?”

“Oh yeah that game...just a heads up if a person wearing a lab coat comes by here and ask where you get that from. Tell him that you just found it in a bush.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, before getting out one of the figures from before. “Well, your friend is wearing the same outfit as this. The original Rune Slayer’s outfit from before with the baggy pants and the short jacket?” She then set it back in the box before setting it aside. “The only thing missing is the sword, but given both of you guys, I have a feeling that you know some spell to summon your weapons at will right?”

“How else do you think she is able to carry a weapon in public without the weight crushing her?” Twilight questioned.

“Yeah, I pretty much just hid most of my weapons inside my body if needed.”

“TMI Amy… TMI.” Rainbow groaned. “Come on though, we got a little knucklehead to track down and daylight’s burning. Less talking, more tracking.”

“Any ideas on where you last saw the short guy?” Amy asked, causing Sunset to close the book she had before putting in a shoulderbag that she was wearing.

“Last we saw him, he was around the backside of Canterlot High nearby where the Stadium was for the Friendship Games. It looked like he was investigating something, because I felt some sort of magic in the area he was in that did not belong to him before he disappeared.” Sunset replied to them as she looked back at Twilight, Rainbow, and Amy. “Guess you need us to guide you there?”

“Hey, I know where the damn school is. After all I did crash into it and landed on you remember?”

“Riiiiiight… And you’re going in the opposite direction.” She pointed out, having Amy realize she was walking away from the school instead of towards it. “Something tells me this is going to be a long day.”

“Whatever, just lead the way.” The Crimson Avenger sighed, sounding bored from hearing Sunset speak to her. This was going to be a LONG day.

Sunblight teleported across the city. She was looking for something important. Part of her didn’t want to do what she was about to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures. She finally found the calling in her chest.

A foster home for girls.

Sunblight peeked in, seeing a familiar, yet unfamiliar face. A bacon haired teen with blue eyes and yellow skin. Sunset Shimmer.

“Hello darling~” Sunblight said, an insane gleam in her eyes. This wasn’t her Sunset, but she was the only one that might be weak enough for her to use. The manifestation could sense the bitterness in her, beyond what her makers was. Sunblight teleported inside and went up to the girl, who was sitting in the corner of the room.

“Sunset! Hurry up, or no dinner for you!” The foster mother shouted from downstairs.

“Yes Ms. Blossom!” Sunset shouted back.

Sunblight rested her hand on the teens shoulder. “You don’t need her…”

Sunset looked around, confused. “Who said that?”

“My name is Sunblight… I’ve felt your suffering, and I’ve come to give you a way out…” Sunset looked around, until she saw the manifestation. She screamed, but was silenced by the she-demon. “I’m not here to harm you… I have power I can give you. Real magic.”

Sunblight let go after she felt Sunset’s struggling cease, and eyes widening. “M-magic…? L-like the stuff at Canterlot High?” Sunset had seen videoes of girls growing pony ears and wings, tentacles coming out of portals and even a portal to another world on YouTube. She didn’t believe it at first, but seeing multiple versions of the video made her question her resolve on that.

“Yes. I can give you a new world of magic, and a meaning in life.” Sunblight said. Sunset was speechless. “I know how your mother abandoned you. That your father died. You can take revenge on both of them, avenge your father and punish your mother.”

Sunset froze for a moment, before asking, “What’s the catch?”

Sunblight chuckled. “The only catch is that there’s someone I want to kill. And I need a willing vessel to dwell in.”

Sunset narrowed her eyes. “I’m okay with that…”

Sunblight smiled. “You won’t regret this, Sunset Shimmer.” She then lunged at Sunset, fusing herself to Sunset.

Sunset then stood up. Her eyes changed to look like Sunblight’s, but there wasn’t much of a physical difference.

“Now… We only need some Sirens…” Sunblight said. “Maybe Snips and Snails will help me.”

It was only a short while after Nicko and Midnight had the chance to talk and understand what was going on, but in that timeframe, the Rune Slayer felt an uncomfortable shift in the air. A shift in power and strength that didn’t seem to fit well with their current predicament involving Sunblight possibly hunting them down. Whatever it was though, he knew that trouble would soon follow as he turned to Midnight, telling her that they had to find a place to hide.

“Midnight, we need to move. We’re not safe here.”

“Wha-? Why do you say that?” She asked, both a bit nervous and also worried.

“I felt a shift in magic just now that seemed to be similar to that of Sunblight. Whatever the case is, we need to go because I have a feeling that she will come after us for payback.” The Spellsword explained as he opened the door and stepped outside of the room he was in. “Hey, quick question… can you hide yourself within me?”

“Y-you mean like your body? B-but that would mean I would possess you-!”

“No, I mean have yourself be in my mind, but not in control of me. Almost like if you were a voice in my head,” He clarified for her before explaining a little bit more. “My fiance Eris would help me out by having herself be inside my head so she could serve as a second pair of eyes and see things that I can’t see as well as cover my blindspots. Do you think you can do the same thing?”

“I-i can try.” She faintly replied, before having herself flow through Nicko and try to take form in his mind. “D-did it work?”

“Yes it did. I can hear you loud and clear,” Nicko replied, causing Midnight to breathe a huge sigh of relief as the Rune Slayer began to walk across the street and into a nearby park. “Now… If it’s a fight that Sunblight wants… it’s a fight she’s going to get. And I will make sure to do everything I can to stop her from hurting you.”

Sonata Dusk was in the middle of eating a taco on the streets. No matter how much she tried, it couldn’t feed her. Sunblight watched from afar as the starving siren devoured the taco in a desperate manner. “Hmm… This could prove helpful…” Sunblight whispered to herself, then walked up to the bubbly girl. “Hello, is something wrong?”

Sonata yelped before cowering in her place. “Y-you’re that Sunrise girl who broke our Heartstones!”

“No… My name’s… Eventide. I’m actually here to help.” She said to the siren before looking around a bit. “Why are you alone?”

“Adagio and Aria left me…” Sonata said, looking down in sadness. “We’re gonna die anyway… So what’s the point?”

Sunblight winced, understanding the girl's plight. “How about this, I’ll save you and your sisters. All you and they have to do is work for me.”

Sonata’s face lit up. “Really!? You’d do that for us!? But Adagio said it was impossible!” Sunblight smiled sadly.

“While it’s true that sirens without their magic cannot restore their hearts, a mage like me can.” Sunblight touched Sonata below her neck, and seemed to pull out a glowing blue ball of magic. With it she hardened it into a stone that looked like the gemstones they used, only blue. Sonata’s eyes sparkled, and she seemed to tear up in happiness. “Take it.”

Sonata connected the stone to her neck, and it filled her veins with magic. She hummed the sirens tune to perfection, like she used to. Sonata tackled Sunblight in a hug. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Sunblight caressed Sonata’s back as she got herself back up.

“You’re welcome… Now, let’s find your sisters.” Sunblight said, then picked Sonata up and onto her feet.

“Seriously?! How hard is it to find a guy wearing clothing from off an anime based MMORPG?” Amy at this point was frustrated as hell while walking alongside Twilight, Rainbow, Sunset and the other Twilight (which she personally called SciTwi since calling her Twilight the science gal was off the table at this point). They had already come across Canterlot High, which was barren empty upon seeing everything first hand, and had already checked the town. Going as far as to ask the locals if they had seen him. All those times, the answer was simultaneous and obvious… The answer was no.

“Maybe if you didn’t intimidate the little kids at the playground and get chased out by their parents, we wouldn’t be having this problem Amy!” Rainbow snapped as the Crimson Avenger turned around and grit her teeth.

“Hey I asked them a question, not have them try to cop a field with my boobs. If it wasn’t for the fact that I can’t beat the crap out of them, I would’ve hanged them from a flagpole by now.”

“You need to keep your anger under control Amy.”

“Shut it Selena. If I wanted to be lectured at, I would’ve stayed at home with Molly.” The Crimson Avenger growled. But it was in that moment that something caught Sunset’s attention as she was facing the other direction and looking off in the distance. A worried expression on her face that would catch anyone’s attention. “What’s wrong with you, bacon hair?”

“Something isn’t right… For a minute… I thought I just heard Siren magic.” She replied, looking back at the girls. “But that doesn’t make any sense… the Dazzlings lost their powers after the Battle of the Bands. How can I hear it now?”

“......Question, there wouldn’t happen to be anything magical or weird stuff going on at the high school since I was last here, right?”

“Well, you were here during the Fall Formal… From what I know, there were two things that happened on Campus and one off of campus,” Twilight replied. “The Battle of the Bands had us against a group of Sirens called the Dazzlings, which used their magic to hypnotize others and the other one was the friendship games, where we met this world's version of me. Other than that, there was something happening in the Everfree, but that’s another story.”

“So, to summarize, there was, but not right now I think…” Rainbow clarified. “However, something tells me that might not last long.”

“A little too late for that if you ask me.” However, one thing that everyone else did not know in that moment was that ironically… Amy was right in that instance. Because not far from their current location… a voice was being restored.

“That was easier than expected.” Sunblight said, mostly to herself. Each Dazzling got their own color for their Heartstone. Sonata got dark blue, Aria got green, and Adagio got the original color of red. “Desperation truly is magic…”

“What exactly is your plan? We’re not exactly strong enough to mind control people.” Aria said, crossing her arms with a scowl.

“Ah, you see, mind control isn’t the entire goal. Twice controlling others failed, that she-demon Sunset and you tried, and weren’t able to use them to your advantage.” Sunblight stated. The four of them walked towards Canterlot High. “There’s a better way to use people…”

“And what’s that?” Aria asked, unsure whether to believe her savior.

“Desire… Humanities greatest flaw.” Sunblight said, grinning. She stopped before she was on campus. “Stay here. I have a showoff to recruit.” All three sirens looked at one another, puzzled by what their comrade had said in that moment. Soon though, they saw a face that they had seen a couple times before. One with light blue skin and white ghost like hair.

“I, the Great and Powerful Trixie! Has decided to join you in ruining the Rainbooms and friends!” Trixie announced. The Dazzlings were confused, but Sunblight’s insane grin stopped them from questioning her.

“Trixie, would you mind getting anyone with a grudge against the Rainbooms?” Sunblight asked.

“Trixie would be happy to help Eventide.” Trixie said, before walking back into the school. Sunblight’s grin seemed sharper than before.

“An army of the thinking is better than an army of brainless zombies…” Sunblight explained. “This is how you ruin someone.”

Meanwhile, on the rooftops, a certain person overheard Sunblight in her plans to try and bring the “Rainbooms” down and was not liking the sounds of it. Neither was the voice in his head as she was scared out of her mind.

“What do we do, Nicko?” Midnight asked him, worried that everything was going to go wrong if they don’t do something.

“Patience, Midnight… Something tells me that the odds will be in our favor… from an unlikely source.” Readjusting himself, he focused on the few people that were down below as he then asked Midnight a question. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Uhh… what is it?”

“Pay attention to my sword. For each one of it’s attacks, it’ll gain an enchantment that increases my strength. At five stacks, it’ll unleash a fire breath on my next attack so if you tell me when it reaches five, I can direct the attack in an intended direction.” Midnight understood what he meant as he soon moved across the roof, deciding to do a small trick and drop down just as the Dazzlings and their savior turned another corner. Right in front of them.

“Well… looks like someone’s eager to cause some trouble.” He smirked, looking back at Sunblight’s new form.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about…” Sunblight said. Her eyes were normal, and so were her teeth.

“Oh don’t give me that crap, we heard you discuss your plan while on the roof. Something about having an army of the thinking…” Nicko replied, folding his arms. “You really need to be more observant with your surroundings.”

“Maybe you need to be… What are you gonna do? Huh? Hit me?” Sunblight asked, taunting him. Nicko smirked, folding his arms a little.

“Come on now, it would be rude to hit a lady… But you aren’t one…” The Rune Slayer replied, cutting off Sunblight before she could speak. “Now now… Midnight told me everything about you and from the looks of things, you’re acting like you are preparing for war.”

“Oh? Who’s Midnight?” Sunblight asked, crossing her arms. Nicko sighed, groaning a bit as he looked at her and sighed.

“Don’t give me that BS. You know who she is… now, do you honestly think I would let you carry out your little plan?” Now was when flames formed from one of his hands as he summoned his blade, Ebalon, at the ready. “Then you would be mistaken.”

“You broke my jaw. Here’s me repaying you.” Sunblight said, before screaming. “Help! He’s gonna hit me!” Before falling backwards. To their left was a police officer, who walked over to them.

“Oh for the the love of-.” Nicko sighed. “You seriously think lying and acting the part is helping you? I didn’t even move my arms.” For the moment, the police officer remained tense… until something else that was wild and crazy occurred that distracted him.

“Don’t run, don’t run, I wanna be your friend!”

“Not entirely what I had in mind, but I’ll take it!” Nicko smirked, shifting backwards a bit as he watched Amy chase a white haired girl like a crazed maniac.

“Save me!” Trixie screamed. The officer decided that Amy and Trixie were a bigger problem, so he started chasing them instead.

“Ugh, that could’ve gone better.” Sunblight said, her eyes and teeth shifting back to their demonic form. “You’re gonna pay for this. There are things worse than jail, mark my words.” Sunblight then vanished.

“Oh trust me… I’ve dealt with things worse than that…” He sighed, turning his attention to the three sirens that were there. “Hmm… I guess you guys are going to have a crack at me then?”

“Nah, Eventide told us to go eat-.” Sonata said, before Aria slapped her.

“Don’t follow us.” Adagio stated, before the trio turned and ran away. Nicko sighed before getting back on the roof and trying to scan the town from high above the school. Wondering to himself as he looked around.

“If I were a manifestation… where would I hide?”

“Get off of me you whack!” Trixie screamed, attempting to shove Amy off of her.

“You think I’ll let you go after you hit me upside the head with a baseball bat!? I don’t think so you S.O.B!”

“I’m sorry! I swung it and it fell out of my hands!” Trixie cried, “Please don’t kill me! I’ll do anything!”

“Well, I better stay away from that,” Nicko sighed, looking around a little. “Midnight, I need some help with tracking down Sunblight. Or as she calls herself now, Eventide… Is there something we can do to really piss her off?”

“Do you have a death wish or something?”

“More like an eagerness to kick her ass and have her stop doing what she is doing at the same time…” Nicko told her as he looked around.

“Well, I think there is a place where she may be… Remember, I said may be, I’m not certain. It’s an old warehouse on the outskirts of town. Mostly abandoned, but it served well as a hiding place.”

“Well, it’s not like we got any other options at this point,” Nicko sighed as he dismissed his sword and began to run along the rooftops, using his runes to launch himself across some of the gaps. “Lead the way.” However, him running along the roof of several buildings with ease did happen to catch the attention of a pair of passerby’s that were on the ground. Two of them that were looking for him in the first place.

“Amy, he’s on the roof!” Sunset pointed out… just as Amy was done tying Trixie up to the flagpole of the school after beating the bloody crap out of her. Trixie just cried.

“Well that takes care of one thing. Now to deal with the other.” She proudly proclaimed, just as she noticed him jumping across a six foot gap between buildings with ease. It wasn’t too long before he reached the warehouse. The door was torn off it’s hinges and the walls of the warehouse looked old and rusty. Being cautious, he slowly proceeded through the door and paid attention to his surroundings. Because even if the place was abandoned…

… He knew for certain that he wasn’t alone.

The items inside were mostly destroyed. Paintings burned, torn, among other things. An older car was also there, with blankets inside. Something that he noticed was that there were the words ‘BLIGHT MEANS TO INFECT. I NEVER CHOSE MY NAME. THIS DOESN’T DEFINE ME.’ Carved into the walls. It looked old, but on the other side of the room was another carving, more recent. ‘YOU ARE NOTHING. NO ONE LOVES YOU. YOU DON’T MATTER.’

“What the hell did I just walk into?” Nicko asked himself. He could tell that Sunblight did not want to be called by that name… but what she wanted to be called was another thing. For that, he thought exactly what Sonata said before.

Eventide.

Yet, there had to be another reason for this. Was it motivation? A way to express her own pain? What was it? This did not seem like a monster to be destroyed… but a soul that needed to be healed. But what was it?

“Every day before Midnight, I’d wake up in that car and rise to see those words… It was the only reason to get out of it. I was alone. No one could see me… No one knew I existed.” Nicko then turned around upon hearing the voice, trying to find it. Sunblight was in her true form on a metal beam.

“Eventide, please. Let me help you-.”

“I’m not Eventide! I’ve accepted who I am. You showed me that.” Sunblight said. “You look at me and see a demon. Midnight looks at me and sees a monster. Everyone else can’t see me! And you know what…? I don’t care… I’ll kill you all, I’ll be the monster, demon, and boogeyman you see me as!” Sunblight’s form caught on fire as she laughed. “This is what you wanted, right human? A bad guy like me!?”

“I never wanted to hurt someone unless I have no other choice…” Nicko snapped, but there was something Midnight noticed that she needed to warn about.

“Nicko, that body is not her own! She’s using someone else's to hold her power!!” Now, when Nicko saw Sunblight, he was seeing a split silhouette of her. Seeing the form of the manifestation… and the girl that she was possessing. The girl herself looked to be hurt and in pain, shivering in fear as her energy was being leeched out of her. Something that made Nicko really angry… An act like this was unforgivable… and he needed to make sure to help the girl and set her free.

“I never wanted to fight you… But you left me with no other choice. You’re harming the life of the girl whose body you took as your own and are tearing her apart… That ends now.” He vowed, summoning his blade and having himself ready for a fight. “You have nowhere else to run Sunblight… now come forth and face me.”

“You call hitting me when I wanted to talk to my sister leaving you no other choice!?” Sunblight snapped. She snarled, her eyes narrowing. “I thought we were a family… But I see now, I’ve always been her burden. If you want me dead, Midnight, come out and do it yourself you coward!”

“That’s ironic since you are using a vessel to do your bidding.” Nicko smirked. “Plus, you messed up yourself… Word to the wise, never refer to me by my height if you don’t want to get smacked in the face.” The Rune Slayer informed her, looking back at the manifestation. “It is true that she is scared of you… But how she was scared of you in the first place is because of your actions alone.”

“Does it matter how? She wants me gone, and you’re her pawn.” Sunblight stepped out of her host. Surprising Nicko for just a moment. But he then sighed… and let Midnight come out of him. “If you want me to stop, and become redeemed, you must kill me, sister.”

“There are many things I can do to be redeemed… but I will not kill… not even you.” Midnight stated boldly. Being with Nicko had helped her with her confidence and now, she wasn’t afraid to face her sister anymore.

“If you won't kill me, then I’ll forever haunt you until you die. It’s not like your little toy wouldn’t kill me anyway!” Sunblight’s eyes glowed as a sword appeared in her hand. “Only two of us are leaving, dear sister.” Nicko sighed, preparing his blade and casting Critical Sword to enhance the amount of damage he can dish out. He had Midnight stay back, letting her watch as he prepared himself to fight against the manifestation.

“I see… Such a coward.” Sunblight said. Her host stood up, her eyes red and filled with hate. A flaming crossbow appeared in her grasp. “I hope you enjoy this bloodbath. Midnight.”

“We’re not going down that easily.” Nicko said, having Midnight return to him before the fight began. The Rune Slayer’s first goal was to figure out Sunblight’s attack patterns. Seeing how she could summon different weapons, this made it even more difficult. But the one thing he knew was that Sunblight did not know about the effects of his own weapon. His own blade.

The blade forged from the soul of a dragon.

Sunblight carried two blades, each one crackling with fire. “Die!” She screamed, before thrusting forward. As soon as she was close though, she ducked as a flaming arrow whipped towards him. Nicko was quick enough to deflect the arrow and to block her swords with his own. With one hand holding the blades in place, Nicko used his spare hand to activate another skill that involved backhanding the spirit in the face. Enchant Break. Which upon being hit, reduces any magic resistance a target may have to zero. Sunblight may have only felt a little bit of the blow, but the effects of the magic itself still lingered.

Sunblight created a short sword and tried to stab Nicko angrily as Eventide circled them, firing at Nicko from his side. Quickly enough, Nicko had dodged the shots fired and still focused on his opponent, using Sword Wave to push Sunblight back a little bit and give him some breathing room to work with in this fight. Sunblight surprised him by turning off the gravity in the room. Making him float a little… but the Rune Slayer was able to get back in the game upon softly landing his feet on the metal roof. Using one of his Splash Explosion runes, he was able to push himself in the weightless bubble as he used it two times. One to get to the ground. Two to get closer to his opponent. Sunblight uppercutted him with her boot, which hurt more than he expected. But he also used the opportunity to do a full on swing with his weapon and shatter one of the swords she was using as they broke into pieces.

Sunblight back tracked, shocked that they broke so easily. She summoned a large fireball, which she threw at Nicko. But all the Rune Slayer did was smirk as he used his blade as a guard to block the flaming projectile as Midnight told him something in his head.

“Nicko, your sword!”

He looked to see five glowing orbs on it, smirking a little. “You call that fire… well THIS is what I call fire.” With a forward swing, a silhouette of the head of a dragon appeared high in the air as it doused the ensuing area with burning flames that were as hot as the fires of hell. Sunblight simply teleported into Eventide’s body.

“I have a question… Are you really going to let him kill me, Midnight? Were my sadistic interests so bad you chose to help this boy kill your only family!?” Sunblight screamed as a spear appeared in her hand.

“You are going too far with this, Sunblight.” Midnight replied. “You do not know me like you think you do…” The plan for Nicko and Midnight was to not kill Sunblight, but to rescue the girl that she was using as her host. Killing was not the option they wanted to resort to, but what they wanted to do is save the girl being used by her… and make sure she wouldn’t go through this torment again. Because right now, to Nicko, he was still seeing both the girl and the manifestation… and the girl was howling in pain and suffering. “I did not want what you wanted so dearly, Sunblight. If you truly did care for me, you would’ve respected my wishes.”

“And if you cared for me you wouldn’t have betrayed me! Leaving me for him! Just say it you always hated me! I see it in your eyes...” Sunblight said, glaring. “Funniest thing is… You didn’t just let me go. You and him hunted me!” Sunblight shouted.

“Because THIS must stop!! It’s over! You lost! WHY CAN’T YOU JUST ACCEPT IT AND MOVE ON!?!!” Midnight roared back at her, making the whole entire building shake with her rage. “I HAVE HAD IT WITH BEING PUSHED AROUND, MOCKED AND BEING TREATED BY YOU AS TRASH!! I JUST WANT TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE ON MY OWN, CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!?!!”

Sunblight was silent for a moment. “You don’t get it… Do you?” Sunblight asked quietly.

“Get what?” Nicko then asked, hearing her despite Midnight doing her best to ignore her.

“I tried… I tried so hard to be like you. I… Dreamed about being cared about. I dreamed of acceptance. But over the time I’ve lived, alone, without a caring person. Learning the tough way that there is to redemption. That nobody sees me, and that nobody, not even my own mother knew. Heh… I learned that the hard way.” Sunblight grinned insanely. “Born into a world through hate. Pride. In that school I’m the face of evil! I wanted to toughen you up in a way that it’d be easier!!! But I suppose the fact that unlike me, you were created from curiosity, I’m a bitter pride that my mother left behind when SHE MADE THOSE DAMN FRIENDS!!! YOU WEREN’T BORN ALONE!!!”

“I know… but I was always alone, even if you were with me. You never cared for me… It makes sense though… Manifestations like us don’t have hearts.” Midnight then faded away, not wanting to hear anymore of what Sunblight had to say to her. She was sick and tired of hearing what pathetic excuses she had to say and wasn’t going to let her change her mind.

She wanted to be forgiven… therefore, she had to change. Not be what Sunblight was, but instead be different. No pride, no arrogance, nothing. She changed her ways… but knew Sunblight couldn’t.

“The sad thing is that I did care… I don’t need a heart to have loved you.” Sunblight said, summoning her blades. “You were the reason I survived… The voices… They told me to do horrible things to myself until you came. And even now, I go on because you inspired me… Now I just want to be alone…” Sunblight rushed at Nicko, her swords hitting in quick succession. He barely had time to deflect the blades as some of the blades cut through the exposed skin on his arms, not only injuring him… but unknown to Sunblight, she was hurting Midnight as well. It got to the point where Nicko barely even could attack once before his opponent hit him twice with her blades.

He was then facing was of Sunblight’s blades. It was pointed at him, and Sunblight was looking him dead in the eye. But she wasn’t moving. She suddenly flinched, and teleported to the far side of the warehouse.

“Damn it, Sunblight!” She said to herself, panicking. “Why are you hesitating!?”

That was when she heard something… odd from the Rune Slayer. He was actually hearing him laugh to himself. “Come on now… Is that really everything you got?” He taunted, just as a series of red runes began to line up in a spiral along his arms. “I expected more…”

Sunblight was shaking. She felt as though she was about to vomit. She was so close to killing Nicko. Inches. But something inside of her couldn’t do it. This was a battle to the death, and she had intended on killing him. But there was something wrong. Sunblight diffused from Eventide, letting the girl sleep as she stood up.

Sunblight rushed at Nicko, full speed. But just as she was inches from him, the manifestation felt herself stop once more. Nicko however, was getting back to his feet, staring down Sunblight. He had Midnight diffuse from him, having her watch from afar as she watched Sunblight try to attack him, only to catch her blades with just his hands… and break them.

“You may be determined to see your goals through, but you don’t have the willpower or inner strength to commit to doing what needs to be done…” Nicko said, the runes on his arms glowing now. “You have never faced a true opponent before… and now, you are and can’t step up to the challenge.”

“Shut up!” Sunblight screamed, summoning two more swords, but was unable to attack. She teleported away, tearing up. “You don’t know me! You’re only good for hitting people you just met!”

“That is where you are wrong…” Nicko pointed out. “You have no experience in fighting. I do… You may have magic like myself… but I am different. And thanks to you, you pushed me to my limits…” Around not, the runes were growing brightly as a fearsome aura of magic and power emerged from around him, pushing Sunblight back with the amount of overwhelming force it had. “And had me go beyond them.”

“I didn’t want to kill Midnight! I didn’t want to kill or hurt anyone!” Sunblight sobbed. “I never treated her like trash! I don’t want to be alone again!” Sunblight was curled up on her knees. “I just… Wanted her to see things my way… I’m sorry Midnight… For everything… I’m so, so sorry…” Sunblight was holding her as she sobbed. Nicko herself, upon hearing that, sighed. The runes retracted as the magic went away and he looked behind him for a moment, going as far as putting away his sword. “But you’re right… Everyone’s right… I’m a monster.” Sunblight summoned the sharp piece of wood that she kept from before. “What m-monster has a ha-happy e-e-ending?” She then plunged the wood into the left side of her chest. But then felt it come out all of a sudden… followed by her looking up to see the Rune Slayer throwing the wood away.

“It doesn’t have to be like this… But you do not deserve the death that you wish… Not while you still have a purpose in this life.” Nicko told her. Sunblight was still bleeding out though, before the Spellsword placed a hand near the wound… and had the self inflicted wound heal completely. “You may have done bad things before, but that doesn’t have to be you…” He said as he sighed. “Go. I am granting you mercy… take it while you still can.”

Sunblight teleported away from him. She was at the exit. “Mercy from you… It’s a fate worse than death and you know that.” Sunblight said, tears in her eyes.

“It will take time, but I believe you will find someone that can help you heal your scars. You just need to believe… Midnight…” He said, turning to her. “Do you have anything to say?”

“ … I forgive you for everything before, Sunblight. We may not be sisters… but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends… right?” She said, still nervous from before because of her past with the Manifestation.

“The saddest thing with what you said is… You don’t see the truth in that. You don’t forgive me. And… We are sisters.” Sunblight looked down. “Born from different emotions, but still connected to the same source of magic. The Elements of Harmony. Half sisters.” Sunblight said, before laughing bitterly. “Friendship is something someone earns… I’ll never earn it. And you two are going to leave me alone for the rest of my existence. Goodbye, sister.” Sunblight vanished.

Nicko sighed, looking back at Midnight. “Not how I wanted to go honestly.”

“It would’ve been better if you showed a little more compassion,” Midnight told him, causing him to sigh.

“It was hard to do that in the first place because Sunblight was really giving me bad vibes from before I was displaced. I was bullied for my height, my disability and just because of who I was… So hearing your story and what Sunblight was doing to you was hard for me to bare…” It was then though that Nicko thought of something and then asked her. “About what she said… do you actually forgive her?”

“Yes… But actions speak louder than words. I may be related to her, but I want to help her understand what she did wrong… I don’t want to give up on her though. She still has a chance for doing something good.”

“I agree… but both of you must be able to forgive yourselves before you forgive each other.” Nicko told her. “I don’t believe that one should die for their mistakes. I believe she still has a chance to redeem herself… but it’s something that she needs to find on her own.” The Rune Slayer’s current focus though was to make sure that Eventide was okay. She was passed out on the ground, but upon further inspection, noticed she was fine.

However, that was when Nicko heard footsteps and looked towards the door, only to see two figures approach it and one of them kick the door open. But to his surprise, the one who kicked the door open… looked almost exactly like the girl on the floor. “What the-!?”

“Well this is awkward…” The human Twilight said from behind Sunset Shimmer. “So this is your human counterpart.”

Eventide groaned as she started waking up groggily. When she opened her eyes and sat up, she looked around, until she noticed the other her. “What the-?”

“Uh… are you okay?” Sunset nervously asked, just causing Nicko to facepalm himself in response..

“I, uh… Suppose… Who are you?” Eventide asked.

“Uh… M-my name is Sunset… Who are you?” Sunset asked her counterpart, blushing a little at how embarrassing this was for her.

“I’m-...” Eventide froze. “Who am I?”

That was where Nicko came in, holding his hand up to Sunset. “Miss, We’re trying to help you… what was the last thing that you remembered?”

“I remember being in my room… Then nothing.” Eventide said. “Why does Sunset look like me?”

“Let me take care of this, Nicko.” He heard Midnight tell him as she placed one of her hands on the back of Eventide’s head, a cool minty green energy flowing from it for a few seconds before looking back at Nicko. “Being under the control of Sunblight must’ve damaged her memory. I did my best in order to fix it.” Hopefully, this would work and help restore Eventide’s identity to her… hopefully.

“Why is there a girl named Sunset… That looks like me… And I’m Sunset…” Eventide said, lost.

“It’s a lot to explain.” Nicko replied. “We just wanted to make sure that you were okay, that’s all.”

“... Explain.” Eventide said.

“Well… to put it simply… I’m you.” Sunset then said, not asking Nicko how Eventide was able to remember who she was or what was going on. “No, this isn’t a born again thing or a future you scenario. I am you… from another world entirely. Again, it’s a lot to explain.”

While both Sunset’s were getting the chance to talk, Nicko thought it would be best to leave the two of them alone for the moment. However, when he did move off to the side, Twilight noticed that and followed the spellsword, stopping him in the process.

“What’s going on Nick?” SciTwi said, getting straight to the point.

“What are you talking about?” He asked, “Also, my name is Nicko, not Nick-.”

“Just answer the question.” She hissed.

“How am I supposed to answer your question if I can’t understand what you are saying?” Nicko sighed, looking down for a minute to compose himself before looking back at her. “Because in order to answer your question… you need to answer one of mine.” Midnight soon appeared to Nicko’s left hand side as he looked at her for a moment before looking back at Twilight. “Can you see her?”

SciTwi stared at Midnight, paralyzed. “Y-yes… What have you been up to, Nicko?! Why’s there a third me!?”

Nicko sighed, looking at Twilight for a moment. “I’m going to assume that there was a moment where you lost control of yourself?”

“Yes, and thank you for reminding me of last month.” SciTwi deadpanned.

“Well, Midnight was born from that incident… She wants forgiveness for what happened, but feels as if you will not be able to forgive her.” Nicko told her. “I have been trying to help her see that it is possible that even her mistakes can be forgiven. In fact, she restored Eventide’s memory… You know, the other Sunset.”

SciTwi looked at Midnight with a neutral face. “You did nothing wrong. I’m the one that did the bad things.”

“But I felt as if I was responsible for it,” Midnight told her, insisting on it. “I was created from your curiosity and I felt as if I was controlling you to do those things. I felt as if I were the one who did such acts… I felt as if I was the one that made you a monster.” In that moment was when some tears formed in her eyes, only to have her wipe them away as she tried to keep her composure.

SciTwi, for some reason, smiled. She smiled, then hugged Midnight. “If you were controlling me… Thank you…”

“W-what?” She stammered, puzzled by what she meant.

“If it wasn’t for that moment, I wouldn’t have met my friends.” SciTwi said, caressing Midnight’s back… or trying to since she was transparent.

“That… I honestly did not expect.” Nicko said to himself, sighing a little.

“I chose to turn into a power hungry being because I was being peer pressured. It had nothing to do with you. And even then, if I didn’t believe that, you’re beating yourself up for someone you’ve never met.” Midnight’s tears of sadness soon turned into tears of joy as she smiled, thanking Twilight for what she said and let herself be with her.

“Thank you… I’ll promise to do what I can to help you… I can even teach you magic if you are okay with it.” For a moment, the pure thought of it startled Twilight and she was going to ask how, but that was when Nicko interjected.

“Those who have control or partial control of magic can see manifestations like Midnight. That’s how I was able to see her and that’s how come you can see her right now.” He explained, having a rune form in his hands to demonstrate.

“That doesn’t… Explain… A thing.” SciTwi said.

“Some things can’t always be explained. I mean, heck, have you seen Pinkie Pie?” Nicko asked, looking back at her. “A lot of the things she can do can’t always be explained. However, what I can tell you is that… what happened to you from before left you with the ability to control magic… Right now, you just need a proper teacher.” It was then that it felt like a massive weight had been lifted off of his shoulders as the original clothes that he first wore returned to him. “I believe Midnight can help you with that, would you agree?”

“Absolutely.” The manifestation smiled, answering the question simply.

“Stop avoiding the question.” SciTwi stated. “And Pinkie’s antics are solely based on magic.”

“What Nicko means is that since you can see me, I can see you. Meaning that if I were to show you how to control magic, than you will have a visual example of how to do it. Think of me like… a personal tutor so to speak.” Midnight explained to the best of her abilities.

“That’s not… My question… Where have you been and what happened here?” SciTwi stated.

“I have been almost all over the entire town and what happened here was something that was… different… Did Sunset ever tell you about what happened to her one night?” Nicko asked Twilight, waiting for a response. When he didn’t get one, he sighed. “Well, like with Midnight, a manifestation formed out of Sunset when she lost control of herself sometime before you transferred here. However, hers was purely formed from her pride and wanted revenge for what happened when her plans failed. Going as far as to find Eventide over here and using her as her vessel. Sunblight’s gone now… but my concern was that if Eventide was okay.”

“Gone…?” SciTwi asked.

“She ran off… originally, she wanted to kill herself, but I gave her a second chance. I believe that there is still hope for her… but it is something she must find on her own.” The Rune Slayer told her.

“Literally… You let an unstable magic user free in our world without a leash.” SciTwi said, crossing her arms.

“Not exactly… There is something that I found out when I fought her… She does not have the resolve to hurt living beings. There were multiple times where she would’ve tried to harm me, but could not follow through. She doesn’t have a strong will to follow through with it… Not to mention that she doesn’t know something I placed on her.”

“If you’re right, and she is a manifestation born, what, three or so months ago… A child doesn’t have the resolve to kill. That bitterness will build up with her being literally invisible. Who knows how bad she can become if left to brood.”

“Hey… like with people, manifestations can change. Like I said, I still have hope for her.” Nicko told her. “I know I wasn’t able to grant her the compassion she may need, but I know someday… someone else will…” He then walked over to a clear space for a moment, making sure that he had space for what he needed to do next as he was able to successfully summon one of his other blades.

“I only see one fatal flaw with that… No one can see her!” SciTwi shouted.

“I know… which is why I’m entrusting the possibility of what may happen to you,” He said to her. “She will need time to cope… time for her wounds to heal… but if anything does go wrong, you tell me.” He then tossed one of the tokens in his pocket to her as he looked back at him. “That is my token… which you can use to summon me when you may need me… Now, if you excuse me… I need to return home and pray to god that demons have not trampled over everything back in Equestria.” With it, the Rune Slayer used Void Edge to cut open a door to his realm as he stepped on through, having it close behind him as Twilight just stared at him. Shocked and surprised by what happened.

“Oh come on!! I still had more questions!!!”

Unknown Location

The smell of fire and lava from the pits of tartarus was everywhere as two strange creatures walked over the charred corpses of the guards that were on duty. On them, they held three keys, gracious stolen from the likes of a Deadly Chaser that they had manipulated as they used the keys to try and unlock the spell used on the door to the chamber of Ran.

“My lord, everything is in place… Please be patient-.”

“Patience is one thing that I do not have,” Ran growled, a threatening glare emerging from his eyes. “Either get me out of here or I will do it myself.”

“I would not advise you to do that,” One of the demons said. “The backlash would be tremendous in your current state-.”

“I did not have you take on this task to give me pretty speeches, In. I… WANT… RESULTS!!” The demon lord had sworn revenge on all of Ponykind after he was bested by the young damnable mage named Starswirl the Bearded. Now though, as he was getting so close to his freedom though, something began to happen. As the lock glowed brightly.

“S-something’s wrong!!” Jin, In’s accomplice shouted. “My lord, stay away from-.”

“AH TO HELL WITH THIS!! BOTH OF YOU ARE USELESS-!!!” Ran screamed, throwing both of his hands on the gate and trying to bust it open while the spell was still being used. It immediately began to backfire on him as a blue flame began to burn his entire body. However, he did not care for the pain that he was forced to bear through. He wanted his freedom! He wanted his Revenge! And nothing… NOTHING was going to take that away from him.

As the shackles on the door began to break, the amount of magic being pooled into the spell caused an outward explosion as a massive black cloud of smoke loomed over the two demons that were trying to service their lord… However, the result from what happened did not kill Ran… it instead changed him drastically.

“M-my lord… are you okay?” In dared to ask as she cautiously approached the downed demon… until it’s body began to rise. The first thing the demon that she saw was the demon’s horn being clipped from it’s head… before she could see how changed the master she served really was.

“Heheheheh… I’m better than OKAY…” He said with a wicked glare. “I’m free… Scarred, but free… In fact, don’t call me by my old name anymore. My name shall be what Starswirl left on me… Scar… Prepare every single troop that is ready… It is time.” As she said that, a new sigil began to glow on his body as he looked at them.

“BEGIN THE INVASION!!!!”

End Log 27

Log 28- An Undying Will

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Author's Notes:

Crossover with Calming Sigh-- with a Breath of Fire once again. Unfortunately, Ryu's author doesn't have internet right now and can't necessarily post his end of the chapter right away, but thankfully he and I were able to get this done. The focus on this chapter was around two things... Nicko's return and also the fact that the war against the demons has now broken out. With it, not many cities are considered safe anymore. In fact, the only safe zones as of right now are Cloudsdale, The Crystal Empire, and Ponyville. Now with numerous events set in motion again, Nicko and everyone else must prepare to stand their ground.

Also, for a little bit of fun, there are a collection of references placed in this chapter that relate to some games and shows involving fighting against demons. Including one from TFS Hellsing Abridged. Guess it right and you'll get a cookie... and maybe an additional bonus. But without further ado, here's the LONG awaited Log 28
-Frost

Of Magic and Machines- An Undying Will

Crystal Empire

It was just about an hour or so after the sun had set upon Equestria as Faith was taking some time to play around with some of the things that were in her room to try and distract herself. However, something about today was not like any of the normal days. Usually around now, one of the servants, Molly, Pinkie Pie or her father Anson would come to her room and tell her that dinner had been made and that she needed to come to the dining hall. That was not the case though. There was a lot of movement outside her room though like it was all hands on deck… and it did not sound good.

“Ms. Faith…” She looked up to see Moby and Remy floating by her desk as the code queen noticed them. Faith had asked the drones to find out what was the source of all the commotion, but what they found though wasn’t exactly good. “We found out why there were many ponies moving in and out of the hallways earlier… I’m not sure though if you would like what we have to show you.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Faith asked, partially confused and a little worried. “Did something happen?” Both drones looked at one another for a moment before one of them pulled up a holoscreen, showing footage from one of the camera’s Molly had set up just a few days ago. What she saw though… startled her.

The entire room was filled with injured ponies of different species. Some with minor cuts and scrapes, but a lot with worse injuries. There were children crying, patients bleeding out and a lot of injuries. “W-what happened!? Was this here? I thought Molly said that this place was safe!”

“It is… These are refugees from Canterlot… Slide to the next screen and you’ll understand what I’m referring to.” Moby told her. Faith did so, wanting to know the answers to why this was happening. What she saw on the next screen startled her even more. Her father was there with Princess Cadence and Molly… but Princess Celestia and Prince Artemis were injured and almost looked like they were on the brink of death with the extent of injuries they had. But the first few words that she heard Anson say set the tone for the rest of the conversation she was about to hear.

“Woah woah woah, hold up… What do you mean that Canterlot was attacked?”

“I mean what I am telling you right now. We had our guards stationed out around the entire city for extra security purposes with the Grand Galloping Gala, but they swarmed us and easily broke through the barricade that was set up. Many have died already and my sister and I expended our magic to get all the ponies we can out of the city.” Artemis told them, now sounding even more concerned than before. “The leader of the demons has broken himself out of his cell in Tartarus… now his army is planning on exacting vengeance on all of Ponykind and all of Equus. I fear that other cities may soon become targets… and with how fast they came… I fear the worst.”

“So Ran, the same guy who stole the Dark El Shard from Amy, corrupted Sombra AND drove Eric mad as hell is on the loose… Dammit and we haven’t had the time to put up the security protocols we have here in all the other towns.” Anson cursed as he looked back at the two members of Royalty. “The only other towns that have proper protection like the Crystal Empire at this stage are Ponyville and Cloudsdale.”

“I fear it may be worse… Ran used to be clever and manipulative, but he always has a lack of patience… waiting for his release has fueled him with anger and hatred to where he’s not even the same anymore.” Artemis coughed for a moment, looking back at them as he tried to get up from his bed, even though he was weak and hurt from earlier.

“You’re staying here Artemis. In the current condition you’re in, you’ll be more of a burden than help.” Molly said as use her dynamo to stop him from getting up.

“You may be right, but there are still those that need our help… Where is everyone else?” Artemis asked. “We need all the strongest fighters we can get if we are going to win against them.”

“Leo is with Caliburn, Jane and a couple of others in Ponyville, Amy is supposedly in Cloudsdale and I haven’t heard from Nicko in the last three days. Even with his skills and power, I’m worried for him. He is my brother and not hearing from him like this is unheard of.” He said before turning to Molly and asking her a new question. “How should we proceed though going forward? I know that we still need to take care of the refugees, but we also need to find people who can fight.”

Molly was seen scratching her chin before taking a moment to answer the Infinity Sword’s question. “The ponies in the Crystal Empire will take care of the refugees. Right now you need to get to where your brother is. I would go myself, but I’m a bit busy with important stuff here at the moment.” The conversation between both of them continued on for a while, but Faith no longer wanted to listen. At this stage, she was worried. Better yet, scared. No one had any clue where her uncle was and the thought of him being out there alone with what was happening scared her. So, taking a moment, she sat the token that she was looking at on her desk and closed her eyes, praying for whoever was listening to make sure that Nicko was safe.

As the tears down her face fell… they landed on what was to be the tear of an almighty dragon that was in her hands… and someone who could hopefully help.

Meanwhile…

Upon completing his final trial, many things went through the mind of the young rune slayer. At first, he wondered about Eris and Moondancer. He did not know how long he had been separated from them due to the trials he had to undertake, but he had a bad feeling that something major had happened while he was away. He had new strength and abilities to take on whatever opponent he had to face, which was true… but the real question in his head was if he actually had changed at all. Was he the same person as he was before… or was he different.

There was only one person that he knew that could answer that question for him… But he was unsure if Ryu had recovered enough since he last saw him. He didn’t want to nearly kill him like the last time they fought each other, but he didn’t want to look like he had gone soft either. It was a tough decision to make… but he couldn’t exactly make it upon landing back on his feet and in another dark forest.

“Glave, did you put me in the Everfree Forest somehow?” Nicko asked, turning to see his displacer with his arms folded.

“No, you are in another forest. This one is specifically known as Hollow Shades-.” The Displacer said, before looking to notice that Nicko wasn’t paying attention… instead, his focus was on the fires that lit the sky ablaze… and the monsters prowling around on the castle walls. To Glaves worst fears… those monsters were demons. His intentions were to complete Nicko’s training so he was ready before the demons would break out of tartarus… They had only just completed his training now, yet it appeared that demons had broken out only a few moments prior. However, the expression on the Rune Slayer’s face was different.

He was calm once before. Now though, he was beyond furious and his anger matched how he felt. To the spellsword, he wasn’t there to protect the people and those that he cared for, including his friends and family. Before Glave could even get the chance to calm him down and think for a moment, the Rune Slayer took off, using runes at the souls of his feet in order to accelerate himself forward.

“That idiot!” Glave growled to himself. At this rate, Glave knew that it was possible that Nicko could get himself killed. The demons that he faced against in his trials were lackeys and nothing compared to the ones that were locked up in Tartarus. But there was also the feeling that Nicko could power through and defeat them… but he couldn’t do so alone. “Hmm… he was thinking about needing to see his teacher… guess I could bring his teacher to him then. Hopefully, that can have him calm down and think straight.”

Using the two cubes that he had in his hands, the displacer began to channel the energy from deep within the void. The reflection of the Dragon’s Tear from before came into view as Glave spoke. “Ryu… I fear that your student may be in trouble… Come quickly and I will explain everything upon your arrival.”

Ryu looked up from the the procession of Celestia’s funeral in Hakumen’s world. He stood on one of the balconies’ above the event, one hand over his shoulder and gripping the sword that hovered over the right side of his back.

He heard the call, but he was having trouble associating the name to himself.

“Ryu…” he said, “Right, that’s my name. Or was it Hakumen?” he cringed and held his head. Dark rings rounded his eyes as he stared into space for a moment. Two conflicting memories ran rampant in his mind, threatening to tear his psyche in half.

“You should answer the call.”

“Right.” Ryu nodded. “I should. People might need my help. Though… who’s Nicko again?”

“Your student. He needs you.”

“Right.” he nodded again. “He needs me. It’s my duty as his teacher to help him.”

“Remember your purpose. You are the White Void.”

Ryu didn’t think. The words simply spilled from his mouth without a conscious thought. “The Vast and Empty, the all consuming.”

“You are the Cold Steel.”

“The Frigid and Strong.” Ryu recited. “Uncaring and Unfeeling.”

“You are the Just Sword.”

“The Sharp and Righteous. The Avatar of Judgement.”

“With blade in hand, reap this world of its sins…”

“To balance the scales of Harmony and Discord, of Chaos and Order.”

“And cleanse this world in the fires of Destruction.”

“So is my Duty, and so is my Purpose.”

With his hand gripping the sword in his back, Ryu looked into his shadow and let himself fall into it. The weapon pulsed and Ryu felt his emotions dull. There was no distraction, no turmoil. He would do what was asked of him.

“We are the Unlimited.” he whispered the final mantras to himself. “We are the Endless; and so, I answer your summons.”

As Glave waited for the summons to work, he hoped that the person he had called for was indeed the right one. When searching for him, he felt two conflicting entities within one token, but nevertheless, he called upon him anyways and watched as the Kaiser landed on the ground in front of him.

“Oh good, I was worried I called upon the wrong person,” Glave sighed in relief, looking back at Ryu before noticing the weapon that he carried with him. Sensing something was different than before, the displacer spoke once more. “But to be sure… you are Ryu, yes?”

“Yes. I mean, no.” Ryu rubbed his head and grimaced. “It’s complicated. Right now I’m in the process of assimilating more than a thousand years of Experience. Memories are overlapping and things start to get confusing when I feel two different emotions for some of the individuals that I’ve met in my life, or is it ‘lives’ since it feels like I’ve lived two different existence? Ugh… please don’t ask, thinking more than just basic actions make me feel like my head’s going to split apart.”

“That, and you are currently in the process of creating a separate identity. That being me.” said the voice inside Ryu’s head, made from the remnants of Hakumen’s mind.

“Still, you are Ryu in appearance… and I don’t need to ask since I already know… However, my concern is not with you, but of your student.” Glave said to him, looking towards the smoke that was rising in the distance and the smell of burning ash. “Over the last few weeks, I’ve put him through numerous trials to prepare for when a demon general named Ran was to break out of Tartarus. However, when we came here, we found out that he had broken out earlier than I had hoped and because of it, your student rushed in blindly. He may have fought against demons and also been trained by you, but the ones he faced are… inferior compared to the actual threat at hand. There was a reason why Starswirl sealed him away originally.” He took a breath, looking back at the Kaiser. “I need your help in tracking him down and knocking some sense into him… the same way that he did to you if it gets to that point.”

Ryu nodded, still rubbing his head. “Find Nicko, intercept him, and beat some sense into him. Simple enough to do, but accomplishing it might be another story.” he said before he dipped his hand into the pouch hanging by his belt and fishing out Nicko’s Token. “With you here, your presence might interfere when I use Prana, but if I used this to hone into Nicko’s power, then I might find him easier.”

Ryu grimaced as he closed his eyes. His head began to pound harder, but he gritted his teeth through the pain and successfully opened his Prana. The light on his forehead hovered over Nicko’s token for a moment before it shot off into the distance, hopefully in the direction of his angry student.

“That’s it.” Ryu gasped, his eyes snapping open. “Hopefully that’s him. Anything else before I go?”

“Yeah… His training and recent Transcendance puts him at the level of power Starswirl once had… or stronger than you for that matter. There also may be a reason for why he departed so quickly that I might not know… But I hope that you could be able to help him the same way he helped to you… But it’s more than just me who’s asking you apparently…” Glave said as he snapped his finger, causing Ryu to hear another voice.

Whoever you are… wherever you are… Please… Please make sure my uncle comes back safely. I know he can handle himself but… I know that I’m not the only one who’s worried. I know that his fiance Eris and Moondancer are also worried for him. Just please… please help make sure he comes back safely.

When the voice ended, Glave looked back at him and closed his only eye. “His niece is asking the same thing… Now, I’ll leave you to it… Good luck, Kaiser.”

Ryu twitched at hearing the Dragon Emperor’s name as another stab of pain went through his head. “Thanks.” he nodded before turning to where the light of the Prana shot off to and braced his legs.

A memory flashed in the forefront of his mind. Legs tensing, power gathering, and shooting off dozens of yards in a single bound. Ryu grasped onto the image, broke down the mechanics behind it and then jumped.

[Might] increased his muscle output and he soared into the air. From there he started detonating explosions under his feet with [Simoon] for every step that he took, propelling him forward in the sky.

“Let’s hope we find Nicko first before something else, yes?” said the voice in Ryu’s head.

Canterlot

By the time Nicko had reached the castle, the entire royal city was beginning to burn. The smell of the smoke from the fires drifted in the air along with the smell of the burning and charred bodies of the victims that weren’t able to make it out of the city in time. Those that he wasn’t able to protect… something that he saw as unforgivable. These demons were monsters who savagely rip and tear apart anything that they saw as inferior… until it was all done.

Now they had another thing coming. From the highest point in Canterlot, he summoned his blade Ebalon, took a deep breath… and jumped. Many of the demons that saw him while he was in the air chased after him while the Rune Slayer used a set of runes on his feet to help himself with balance as he ran along the side of the tower. Using his swords and his skills to cut down and destroy all of them that tried to stop him and using Luna Blade to pierce through several of the demons that lunged at him while he made his downward descent. Landing on the ground as it formed a large crater underneath his feet.

The initial entrance caught the attention of all the other demons that were there. Now though, he felt ready as he smirked as them, letting his blade burn with the flames of his magic. “Is that really everything you got?” All the demons that were there, ransacking the stores and buildings were now focused on him as he held his sword tightly and began to attack them. Despite being severely outnumbered, Nicko knew that he had faced greater odds before… Yet, there was something off with this.

That something was now seen once he saw something that was on the ground that he recognized… It was the jacket that his father had as a Dreadlord… along with his knives and his mother’s cloak. All four of them were covered in blood… and that soon set off something inside him… First… a feeling of sorrow… but then, it was anger and rage that overtook him. “You… YOU BASTARDS!!!” He roared, his magic channeling around him as he prepared to activate his awakening. “ALL OF YOU WILL BURN FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE!!! PHOENIX TALON!!!!”

High above Canterlot, Ryu soared as he ran on the air. His head throbbed at the sight of the city in flames, but he ignored the images summoned by it and stared at the swarm littering the streets.

“Kill them.” said the voice. “These demons are a stain to this world.”

“Shut up.” Ryu muttered. “I’m here to find Nicko. I can sate your thirst for justice later, he’s my priority here.”

Just the one of the streets erupted into a gore of demons. Ryu saw someone in the middle of the slaughter, cutting down the beasts left and right with an overwhelming power.

“Help him. Clear this place of their ilk, and help him.” the voice said. “You can accomplish two objectives in one act.”

“Nicko.” Ryu muttered as he looked at his student overcome by his rage. He needed to talk to him, but these demons would only get in the way.

“CLEANSE THIS WORLD OF THEIR PLAGUE!”

Ryu roared in the sky and descended down onto the earth. Nicko looked up at the source and saw the other Displaced unsheath his sword and hammer down on the first demon as he landed.

Dust and concrete erupted into the air and the demons were sent flying. Ryu gripped his sword with both hands and it began to gather magic from the air and from himself. “[Empty Sky Form]” he said, raising his arms into the air. “[SUMMER’S SQUALL!]”

The sword fell and a wave of pure destructive energy washed over the area, ripping up the street and destroying the demons that were swallowed in.

Ryu jumped over his student and repeated the move on his other side, effectively clearing the area around them. He turned and looked at his student, surprised and still seething in anger. “Hello, Nicko.” he said before forcing a smile in his grimace as another set of memories assaulted him. “As much as I’d like to talk with you, right now isn’t really the right time for that.”

The two Displaced beings turned and saw the other demons coming from different sections of the city, crawling, running and generally making their way towards them. Ryu wasn’t sure if he could fight for long given the state of his mind.

“Let’s get out of here.” Ryu said through gritted teeth, one hand coming up to grasp his head.

“Do not run! Stand and Fight!” the voice roared, adding to the pain as more memories of a war assaulted him. “Let them come to their demise!”

Ryu fell to his knee and closed his eyes in pain. “Shut up.”

“I’m not running… not after what those bastards did…” Seeing that his teacher looked like something was affecting him, he channeled a rune in front of him. “Sorry Ryu… But this is for your own good… Step aside.” The Rune detonated, pushing Ryu out of the way as he drew his blade. “So… Who wants to get burned first!?!”

The demons that were there all charged at him, causing the Rune Slayer to grin as he gripped his blade. From where he was at, Ryu could see the silhouette of a dragon appear above his student as he began to tear through each one of the monsters that came to him. The first few monsters that attacked were nothing to him. But then, the stronger warriors came and with it, made things difficult for the Rune Slayer as he had to manage attacking his opponents, staying on his guard… and keeping an eye on Ryu. But he knew for sure that these demonic horrors were going to pay for the ones that they killed. Even with some wounds and scars on him, he simply shrugged it off as he prepared to channel the flames around him.

“I wanted to save this for when I get to spar with you again, Ryu… But I guess you’re just going to get a sneak preview.” The spellsword thought to himself as he channeled his magic and flames through his sword. Slamming it down forward with all of his might as he released his strength and power. “OVERS GEYSER!!” Upon slamming his blade to the ground, dozens of swords out of fire and magic rose from underneath the demon’s feet as they were turned to ash. When the skill was done, all of the demons he could see were now turned to ash as he tried to calm himself down. “That was for my parents… You heartless monsters.”

A roar to the side caught Nicko’s attention, just in time to see Ryu’s weapon cleave through a row of demons in a single swipe. What was odd, however, was that Ryu was still struggling to stand up while still clutching his head, his free hand was on the ground and keeping him balanced. His sword was swinging in the air and cutting down whatever demon was unfortunate enough to come close without anyone holding it.

“Come demons,” roared the voice inside Ryu’s head. “Come to me and meet your end!” This, unfortunately, only intensified the pain in his head. The separate mind was controlling the sword through Ryu’s telekinesis ability.

“Too much noise.” Ryu said through gritted teeth, his fingers starting to dig through the stone ground as they clenched tighter. “Too much distraction. I can’t focus.”

But he heard what Nicko said. Through the demons’ cries and wails, he heard his student’s words and understood now what fueled the rage in the Rune Slayer.

“For family.” Ryu said, feeling the pain in his head slowly receding. “For his loved ones.”

Another demon up behind the Ryu as his sword had wandered away from him. It raised it’s claws to strike his back, but the Brood was on his feet in a flash and grabbed the demon by it’s face.

“That’s right.” Ryu said with a grin mixed with rage and happiness. “If it’s for your family, then you should be willing to do anything for them!” The demon’s popped as the hand gripping it’s head clenched.

“YES! Do not fight me, but work with me!” said the voice. “You needn’t push me away, accept me as part of yourself! You and I are one and the same!”

The Ryu’s sword twirled in the air before it shot back into his hands. He gripped the sword firmly, now more sure than before. “If it coincides with what we want, then the pain lessens. We’re here for Nicko, but he won’t come with us until he’s had his fill of kills. We can’t force him away from what he wants or else it might becomes a resentment against us.” Ryu said. “But to be honest, I don’t really feel like leaving yet. Not after hearing what these things did to my student.”

“Then come! Let us bathe in the carnage!” shouted the voice. “For Justice!”

“Yeah, for justice.” Ryu said. “And for me, Justice means VENGEANCE!”

With a roar of effort, Ryu swung his arms and brought forth another wave of destruction. The streets were cleared once again, and he could now see Nicko clearly. Ryu lifted his head and opened his mouth summon forth a roar so loud it echoed throughout Canterlot. Along with that roar came a wave of Ryu’s suddenly overwhelming Presence expelling out from his body, an ability he obtained from Hakumen.

By combining the skills of [War Shout] and [Howling], Ryu sent forth a psychic wave inside the magic carried by his voice. All of his allies would be empowered by [Might], increasing their strength. His enemies, however, would be assaulted by confusion and fear if their wills were weak enough. He didn’t know if they would affect the demons, but they weren’t Ryu’s focus. He was aiming to aid Nicko in his revenge.

“You don’t want to go yet, Nicko?” Ryu asked his student as he looked at him. “Then fine! Slice, Stab, Kill, Slaughter! Go, have your fill, but after that we’ll talk.” He raised his hand and aimed at the Rune Slayer, where a ray of gentle light descended over Nicko. The light began to heal his student of his wounds and began to revitalize him. With that done the Brood leapt away, far enough so that he wouldn’t get in the way but close enough to help if needed.

“Why does it feel like there’s no end to them?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just how it looks to us.” Ryu said, readying his blade as the demons surged towards him and Nicko. “But does it matter? We’re here if that’s the case.”

“Yes” the voice chuckled. “For we, too, are Endless.”

However, before either of them could attack the monster that was lunging towards him, they heard a loud shot go off as the demon turned into ash. Turning around, The Rune Slayer’s eye’s widened at who it was that took the shot… and some tears almost began to stream down his face.

“Good to see that you’re still okay, son.” The figure said.

“O-oh my god… Dad? DAD!!” The Rune Slayer shouted. “B-but I thought you were-.”

“Dead? Not quite,” His father told him. “We left our old clothes there as a diversion. In addition, for us to fight demons… we became demons by switching job classes.” Turning a bit, he soon noticed Ryu by himself as he looked back at him. “Who’s your companion here?”

“His Teacher/Master Instructor/Friend, take your pick.” Ryu said, eyes slowly going over the guns on the new person’s body. He’d never thought of firearms before, being that such things never existed in his Equestria’s time. But now, though… “I’m on your side, just in case you’re wondering about pointing those things at me.”

“Why do I feel as though the flow of battle has been disrupted?”

“It’s nice to meet you… You are strange, but then again, strange things happening are normal around here.” He responded back. “Though… my concern would not be of you… or the voice in your head… but instead of my wife Ciela.”

“Why are you concerned about mom?” Nicko asked.

“Well, when she and I both changed our classes… she decided to immediately take the new skills she learned and test them on the demons… look for yourself.” The Demonio pointed out as he looked farther down the street. There were four demons running for their lives… and then another individual chasing them.

“Aww come on now, does this look like the face of mercy to you?” She asked them. “All I want to do is give you a hug… and brutally TEAR YOU APART FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO THIS CITY!!!”

“Yeah… because of the new change, not only is she at her strongest, but it also causes a strain on both of us. Since we fight in unison, the amount of power she uses can affect how I fight too…” Luke explained, just as she burned those monsters to shreds.

“Well, that was fun.” She smirked, going over to where Luke was and noticing Nicko, hugging him tightly before looking at Ryu. “Oh hey there cutie… what’s your name?”

“I am the MILF Hunter.” the voice said inside Ryu’s head with an audible leer in his tone. “Nice to meet you, Beautiful.”

Ryu’s eye twitched. Hakumen was more or less just a walking piece of armor with no organ, which probably explained the repressed libido. Seeing the he now has his memories, the repression was passed on to him. Ryu tried his best not to let his interest show. “My name is Ryu.” he said before abruptly turning around and walking away. There were demons to kill. He was definitely not running away from his libido.

“Dear… you’re hitting on Nicko’s teacher.” Luke pointed out to her, causing Ciela’s cheeks to flush.

“Oh… crap. I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you were his teacher,” She apologized. “I mean, Anson told us about you and everything, but I honestly thought you would be… different.”

“Mom, don’t we have a job to do?” Nicko then asked. “I mean, there are probably still more of demons lurking around and whoever lead the attack may be here too.”

“No, not necessarily,” Luke told him. “We saw two of their commanders leave earlier, letting their pawns and lieutenants do the work. Now though that you and Ryu dealt with most of them along with us, the only demons that are left are the stranglers hiding out like rats… fortunately though, your mother and I have an ability that can take care of them. Afterwards, we need to get you two to Ponyville… Eris has been worried about you since you… left unexpectedly.”

That had Nicko’s eyes widen for a moment once he realized that. “Oh crap… I almost forgot about that.” He groaned, facepalming himself as he looked back at her. “I’m really going to have to apologize to her for this…” This made Ryu rather… curious. First, his student was eager to fight back against the demons that resided here. But at the mentioning of Eris, his attitude and facial expression changed rather suddenly.

“You ever wonder what it’s like to be in a relationship?” the voice asked Ryu.

Ryu sighed and palmed his face, keeping his senses open just in case of an ambush. He did wonder how far Nicko’s relationship with Eris was, last time he was asked for advice it wasn’t like he was much help.

“Don’t you just envy the people who could commit themselves to Love?” said the voice with a sense of melancholy.

“Why do you keep asking questions that you already know the answers to?” Ryu whispered to himself. It wasn’t like Ryu could commit himself to a pony, no matter how cute they were. He wanted a family one day, but there wasn’t really anyone back Home to make a family with. Not unless he decided to use the [Fusion] gene to become a dragon/pony hybrid to do it.

“I ask so that you may start considering.”

“DIABOLIC DISASTER!!!” Ryu and Nicko turned around to see the duo that they were originally talking to use a powerful form of magic to conjure a black hole to tear space apart with the demonic energy that resided from both of them. This pulled in all of the demons that were still trying to hide from the group as the attack soon finished and both the Demonio and the Diabla turned to Ryu and Nicko. “Now with that settled, let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Right.” Ryu nodded. “Lead the way, then.”

“And please,” the voice in his head purred. “Ladies first. We’ll be right behind you to make sure that nothing attacks you from the rear.”

Ryu’s hand came up and slapped his face, earning the attention of everyone else. “Ow.” he grumbled, feeling the pain in his head returning gradually. “Sorry, I just thought of something stupid. You three showed me some pretty amazing skills, by the way.”

[Overs Geyser] looked pretty simple enough. It may not be as powerful as Nicko’s if Ryu used it, but he could probably change some of its elemental properties if he wanted when he makes use of [Combo]. That black hole spell, however, was probably way beyond his abilities.

“Thanks, Ryu… a lot of the things I learned were first from your teachings, then just having to take it a step further once I reached Transcendance,” Nicko replied, taking a minute to extend his hand outward and had all the burning flames around him subside. From it, the Rune Slayer was able to place a rune at the highest point in Canterlot, which might’ve looked simple enough. But this one had a caption underneath that read ‘the time is now’. “Transcendance though required me to take what I knew already and forced me to go beyond them in order to gain those abilities… But enough about that, let’s hurry on back.”

A few minutes later…

By the time that the group was able to return back to Ponyville, the four of them found the small town under a shield of magic that allowed them inside and focused on repelling the demons attacks. What might have been surprising to Ryu, but normal to Nicko, was the sight of all the anthropomorphic ponies that were around the town as they passed by a few stallions of the royal guard that had suits of armor from head to hoof.

Of course though, what was actually surprising soon came when they met one human that was in the town… but his entire left arm was metallic. “Holy crap, Nicko! You’re back!!” He responded at seeing the group of four… but was a little confused upon seeing Ryu. “Hey… uh, not to be rude, but who’s the hitchhiker?”

Before Ryu could respond on the matter though, Nicko playfully punched him in the shoulder. “Leo, that’s my teacher you’re talking too. His name’s Ryu and his teachings have been helping me out a lot.”

“Define ‘Teaching’.” the voice snorted in Ryu’s head.

“So this is the Ryu guy that Anson keeps mentioning?” Leo said, scratching his chin a little. “He’s kind of…… different from what I expected. Still though, it’s good to see that you’re all okay. Especially with what happened in Canterlot.”

“We noticed… I ran into mom and dad there and they helped us with the last of the stragglers inside the city. Placed a marker for you that could help.” Nicko pointed out to him as Leo turned around and was able to see the glowing rune from this far away.

“That… is rather helpful,” The Reckless Fist answered, thanking the Rune Slayer. “Well, with that in mind, I need to talk with Applejack and Caliburn on a few things. Eris and Moondancer are back at your home right now, so the sight of you should put their minds at ease.”

“Sure, but before that though, where are Anson and Faith?” Nicko asked him as Leo began to walk towards what was assumed to be the Barracks.

“They’ve been staying up in the Crystal Empire along with Jane and Molly in order to help keep things under control. Celestia and Artemis combined their magic to escape and teleport all of those who were hurt in the attack on Canterlot, so right now it’s all hands on deck.”

“Okay thanks,” Nicko replied back before looking at Ryu and his parents. “Well, let’s go see Eris. She’ll be excited to see us still in one piece… and also probably to see you again, Ryu.”

“I quiver in anticipation to meet with the Daughter of Chaos.” the voice said, driving a sharp pain in Ryu’s head making the man stumble for a moment.

Ryu stopped walking and shook his head. The pain was back again, and it was distracting him immensely. “I’m… looking forward to seeing Eris as well, Nicko.” Ryu said, feeling a sense of uncertainty well up inside him. That, and guilt. He recalled, from Hakumen’s memories, of how he stood over the dismembered corpse of Discord and plunged that world into a path of a completely different timeline from the Original Canon.

“Will you apologize for something you did not do?” the voice snorted in contempt. “You were not the one to end him, and this one is nothing more than a spawn of another Discord in this world. You have done nothing wrong.”

That may be so, but the memory still haunted Ryu to this day. From Hakumen to Ryu, the guilt was merely passed over.

Ryu grunted and continued walking, waving off the look of concern in Nicko’s face as well as the curious ones shot his way by the others present. “Let’s go, shall we?” he said, unconsciously reaching up over his shoulder to grab the hilt of his sword. It pulsed silently in reply, and he felt his emotions dull as well as sharpen his focus. The Rune Slayer personally just smiled a little as he walked to the door and opened it, allowing everyone to come inside as he closed the door.

“Eris, I’m home!” Nicko spoke up, placing his coat on the nearby coat rack as he saw the Draconequus swiftly come into the room and latch onto him in a big hug.

“Nicky, you’re okay!! I was so worried about you!” She replied, looking back at Luke and Ciela before noticing Ryu as she smirked a little. “Oh my… I didn’t know that we would be expecting company.”

Ryu tried to not make it obvious that he was staring at the draconequus, but he couldn’t help but make some comparison between her and her father. It was almost as if they were meeting each other for the first time. “Hello, Eris.” he said, trying to smile, though only succeeding in making it look like a strained grimace. The voice in his head wasn’t helping any better.

“My… look at those curves,” it said. “Look at those corners as well. She’s quite the exotic specimen, isn’t she? Pity she’s taken. By your student, no less. Ah well, it’s not like we’re not allowed to look. Speaking of: let’s look back to Nicko’s mother, shall we?”

Ryu was starting to think that this voice in his head was some kind of horrid fusion of all the emotions and urges that he’s pushed down all these years, mixed with the ones that were in Hakumen as well. He wondered if he was some sort of repressed pervert.

“Yes.” the voice answered him unhelpfully. “That, and you miss the company of humanoid beings. Anthro doesn’t cut it, even if they have the right assets that we can leer at. But no, you still miss humans even after giving up on returning to your home world.”

That meant that after seeing Anson’s daughter and Nicko’s mother…

“Why hello, Repressed Libido. How kind of you to join us since so long. Hm? What’s that? Why yes, even lolis are permitted. Feel free to indulge yourself.”

Ryu started staring blankly at the space above Eris’s head. Was this what they call insanity? Or was this called madness? Ryu didn’t know, but he didn’t like it one bit. Eris noticed him staring off into space as she smirked a little.

“What’s the matter, Ryu? Is the voice in your head driving you nuts or are you surprised by what you see?” She giggled. “Because from the looks of it, you’re just as shy and silly as Moondancer.”

Ryu’s head snapped over to Eris, eyes wide. The voice in his head sounded surprised as well. “Ah… we forgot that Discord and Pinkie had that little tendency to breach reality, didn’t we? So it shouldn’t be a surprise to find out that little Discordette here could do the same” it said. “Hello, Eris. I dearly hope you don’t mind if I start spouting out some random commentary during our stay here. Being nothing more than emotions and urges with a mind of it’s own, I can hardly do a thing without a body. And Ryu’s too much of a prude to act on my suggestions.”

Ryu grabbed his head and grimaced. No point in pretending that there’s nothing wrong now that he got called out on it. “I should start calling you by a name.” he said. “If only have something cuss at.”

“And what would you call me?” it asked, honestly curious. “I’m an entity caused by the fracture of your soul due to one thousand years worth of conflicting memories now in your head. I’m not Hakumen, not fully. I’m still you, only with a few added quirks due to said memories.”

“I’d call you Fou-lu, but that would be an insult to the man.” Ryu said. “I rather like him. I feel like I could relate to the Tyrant Emperor Dragon.”

“Of course you would, you reclusive, antisocial brooder.”

“I’d call you asshole, but that would be pretty much insulting myself since you’re more or less me.”

“I’m rather impartial with Handsome, myself. But that would be just a bit too narcissistic.”

“So I’ve decided to us the most unimaginative name I can think of right on top of my head.” Ryu decided. “Ryong should do it.”

“Which is pretty much translates to Dragon in a different language, same as Ryu.”

“Different word, same meaning.” Ryu grunted. “Which pretty much explains us: Different thoughts, but same person.” Eris giggled in response, looking at Nicko who seemed a little confused by what was going on.

“You okay Ryu?” He asked.

“Oh he’s alright… Ryu here is just trying to get adjusted to the fact that he has a new friend inside his head. Kind of like when I’m inside yours, but this resolves around conflicting memories… Now they’re arguing over what to name his other half.” Nicko himself scratched his chin a little as Eris went on a little bit more. He did remember noticing his master’s sword glow earlier in Canterlot, so he was lead to assume that this other half of him was inside that blade… and that made him only think of one word.

“Ryuken.” That had Eris look back at him along with his teacher as he looked back up. “I may not hear him right now, but I believe Ryuken would be a suitable name. It means ‘Dragon Sword’. Might not exactly be what you had in mind, Ryu, but it’s the thought that counts.”

“Ehh, let’s let them decide on it. Both of them remind me of you and Anson. You’re similar to one another, but other then that, you like to hang out and also get on each other’s nerves whenever the opportunity presents it.” Eris’ comment was followed by a thought that she had in her head at the time as Luke and Ciela decided to leave the room to give the three of them some privacy as the Draconequus playfully smiled and took a seat next to the Rune Slayer. “I just hope ours don’t turn out the same way.”

“Isn’t that a nice thing to watch?” the voice said. Ryu was slightly surprised at how close Nicko and Eris were. Not in a friendly sense, but closer. He was happy and slightly envious of his student, seeing now that he had a partner.

“I’m getting nostalgic.” Ryu said, rubbing his temple as he sighed. “And sad.”

“Cheer up, chum.” the voice said consolingly. “You’ve got a goddess waiting for you back home, remember? She’s pretty hot herself.”

Ryu growled and rubbed his temple harder as the pain in his head spiked. Not only did he have his Dragon Genes on the loose, but there was also his other problem with the goddess, Myria.

“I’m sorry to ruin your moment, Nicko, but is there anything else you need me for?” he asked, not impatiently, but to ask for something to do to keep his mind off the pain in his head. “A masked man summoned me to stop you from making a mistake. Now that I think that the danger’s passed, is there something else I can help you with?”

“Deciding my name would be nice.”

“You’re staying as Ryong.” Ryu said as he glared at the side so as to not expose anyone else to it. “Though Ryuken sounds like an impressive name, I don’t want you to be impressive at all.” And though it was a sound deduction on Nicko’s part, Ookami, the sword on Ryu’s back, only dulled emotions for Ryu.

“Glave summoned you? Heh… figures that my Displacer would bring you here… Though, I would want to talk a bit more, but I had a feeling you had things to do…” The Rune Slayer replied, going into his room to grab something that might help his teacher. “Let me give you something that might help.”

Before Ryu could ask what it is, Nicko flicked something towards his teacher like he was doing a coin flip. When he caught it, his teacher was surprised that what he found… was actually a black dragon scale. “A while ago, I met a displaced named Ken Ahkrin that has his soul linked to that of an Onyx dragon. That scale is a copy of the token which he gave me when I last saw him. If you need help getting those dragon genes and I can’t lend a hand because I’m too busy here, I’m sure he can help…”

During this though, the Rune Slayer could notice that his blade was doing something to his teacher. Even after the last time they met and Ryu’s resolve for finding the genes he lost was restored, Nicko was still a little concerned for Ryu because he still seemed to act… different from his usual self. Not like before… but like he didn’t want to accept something he had seen. Maybe that was the case with Ryong? But he wasn’t so sure. “Ryu… are you okay?”

“He’s in denial.” said the voice, though only two people in the room heard it.

“I’m not in denial!” Ryu snapped to the side, surprising Nicko as he didn’t hear what the voice had said.

“Yes, you are.” the voice said patiently. “You remember that spirit in the Breath of Fire 3 game, the one that appeared after gaining the [Shadow] Gene? She called the original Ryu a True dragon. We thought that it meant that he was simply the inheritor of his clan’s power, but she actually meant something more.”

Ryu kept his silence in response, though he started looking angrier by the second. It didn’t help that the pain in his head was escalating the more he got worked up.

“In the Breath of Fire lore, the dragons meant something more. They are Power, they are Destruction, they are the Heroes and Villains, and most of all they are the ones who shaped their world.” the voice said. “You’re not Human anymore, Ryu. Accept it.”

Ryu closed his eyes and exhaled a shaky breath. “I will remain Human as long as I wish it.”

“And that will be your downfall.” the voice said. “For that is the reason why your own Genes rebelled against you: You kept pushing them away.” That made Nicko sigh a little, just as Eris did a small tap on his forehead. Upon taking a deep breath, The Rune Slayer looked towards Ryu and sighed.

“Ryu… You really need to get a hold of yourself…” He started to speak. Ryu was going to protest and say something, but Nicko cut him off before he could make a word. “Because right now… you’re acting a lot like I had before I met you and before I was displaced and I am sick of it. You are pushing away people that want to help you and that is just going to make the problem worse… And the thing is… You only think you aren’t human because you don’t see yourself as one… When the fact of the matter is that even if you aren’t one in appearance…” At this point, one of his hands curled up into a fist as he held it near his heart. “You are one here… You are one with an Undying Will to do what is right and one with the Pride of a Dragon that keeps you going… You may not be who you used to be… but I’m asking you to please remember who you are… Before you took on the Name of Ryu.”

“Says here that his name was originally Clyde Pierce,” Both of them turned to Eris, who appeared to be reading what was a book… that really was Ryu’s diary. “What? I was bored and wanted to help somehow… So I thought that Ryu would’ve wanted to feel more human if he knew his original name.”

Ryu sighed helplessly, but there was a kind smile tugging on his lips. He reached over to gently take his Diary back from the draconequus, not at all surprised that she could take it without him knowing. He looked at the name that was on it’s page with an expression of melancholy.

“Clyde Pierce…” Ryu whispered. He closed his eyes and shook his head, chuckling slightly. “I remember some things when I was still human, even though they’re mostly echoes now after so long. Clyde Pierce, the Soldier of Fortune. Kouya Kurokami, the Hunter in Training. Koydenshu, the Demon Slayer. And Ryu… the Demon.”

“I remember those…” the voice said. “Back when we were filled with nothing but dreams and fantasy…”

“I was a dreamer.” Ryu said. “I liked to believe that I was something that I wasn’t. I made up stories, doodled a few pictures, made a make-believe life in the back of my high school notebooks…”

Eris and Nicko shared a look.

“Clyde Pierce isn’t my real name. It’s an alias of a character I made up.” Ryu said, before looking at his student. “You need to work a bit on your speeches, Nicko, but that didn’t mean that I missed what you wanted to say.” he sighed. “You’re right that I push away people because of acting childish. The problem isn’t because I don’t see myself as Human, but because I. Am. Not.”

A blast of magic surrounded Ryu’s hand, creating a distortion. When it came back into view, it was now covered in white scales.

“In my heart and soul, I believe that I’m still Human. I don’t want to believe that I’m something else. I deny what I’ve become. I deny being a Dragon.” Ryu sighed once again, looking at Nicko sadly. “And… how can I remember who I was before becoming Ryu when I don’t remember much of who I was in the first place. Time has done its course… I’m barely the teen that I remember I used to be.”

Nicko’s heart was in the right place. He wanted to help Ryu with his issues, but he just didn’t understand why Ryu denies himself so strongly. Nicko was Human, with the power to use magic. Ryu… wasn’t. He was only Human in appearance, but deep down inside he was a Dragon.

A human that can turn into a dragon, or a dragon in the guise as a human. That had been one of the things that Ryu had wondered about himself. He dreaded the answer, but now he knew.

After years of denial, centuries of reluctance, he unfortunately found the answer to the question. He was a dragon in Human guise. Even after refusing to turn into a full dragon without at least some semblance of his humanity, it didn’t change the fact of what he was. It broke his heart just thinking about it.

But more than that, it took a toll on his sanity. He simply did not wish to let go of his Humanity, his only link left to his near forgotten past.

Nicko sighed, looking back at Ryu. “When I said remember who you are, I did not mean before you were displaced… I meant as to who you are in the eyes of those who care about you. There’s no point in chasing a past that you cannot remember… but there is always a purpose for fighting for a better future. And to me, you aren’t what you say you are when you call yourself a dragon that can disguise as a human or a human that can turn into a dragon. You’re both. A hybrid of the two so to speak… Applejack is counting on you in order to be yourself again and told Anson that in person. Please don’t let her down… because if you keep on putting this off, who knows what the future may hold.”

Ryu grimaced. It was a bit unfair to throw out his family’s name like that to guilt him. “But then again, being the Master of Procrastination that you are, it had to be done.”

“I’ll try--” Ryu said before he was cut off by a stray thought.

“There’s no such thing as Try for you, Lord Procrastinator.” the voice snorted in Ryu’s head. “It’s Do or Don’t.”

Throwing his hands into the air, Ryu said. “Fine. I’ll do it.” before sighing and slumping his shoulders.

“That’s better. Now, what’s next on the agenda?”

“What’s next is getting you two home,” Nicko interjected, getting up before looking back at Ryu. “Oh and yes, thanks to Eris, I can hear your… accomplice. Don’t worry about asking me how I’m going to get you back. I got that part covered.”

Ryu nodded and sighed, his hand rising up to rub his temple again. “Okay, then. I’ll probably spend a few days to a week meditating and getting my thoughts sorted out after leaving.”

“After that, we’ll see about finally tracking down those genes.” the voice said. “We’ve already gotten more than enough moves and techniques from Hakumen’s memories. His moves, as well as everyone else in the Blazblue series.”

“All that’s left for me is to recreate them somehow.” Ryu nodded. Nicko chuckled in response to saying that as he stepped outside, summoning a new sword that was not like one of the ones that Ryu had previously seen when in Canterlot. It was a curved blade with part of it being a crystal that was the same color as the void. Taking Ryu’s token, the Spellsword attached the dragon’s tear to the bottom of the crystal and let the object sync with his weapon. Then, one slash was all that he needed to do as he swung fiercely.

For a moment, it didn’t look like the blade did anything to Ryu. But a few moments later, a crack in reality was formed and a doorway that lead to his own world was created. He could see Applejack’s farm on the other side of the opening as Nicko placed the blade on his back. “Out of the three blades I have, this one called Void’s Edge has helped make traveling back through the void easier… I wish you luck on your journey home.”

“Hopefully nothing makes a grab for us on the way back.”

“Don’t even joke about that!” Ryu snapped to the side before a shiver went through his body. He looked at the portal, now filled with trepidation. “Here’s hoping that nothing really does.” he said before jumping through.

As the rift closed, all the Rune Slayer could think of that was on his mind what he needed to do for his next move. But of course, the Rune Slayer remembered that he had just recently returned from wherever the hell Glave had sent him before coming back and that before he could go off to fight, he needed to plan his next move. They did not have any other people who could fight besides himself, Anson, Faith, Leo, his parents, Caliburn, Amy, Molly, Jane, Yuri and Jade. Besides them, Twilight and her friends and the princesses, they barely had any form of resistance against the invading demons in order to fight back.

However, what he did not know was that someone was already on top of that.

As Faith stared out of her room into the evening sky that night, one thing immediately caught her attention. Something that quickly had her hopes up and made her know for sure that her prayers were answered. She could see a glowing red rune from the highest point in Canterlot… with the words “The Time is Now” emblazoned underneath. And with it, a newfound determination inside her was awakened alongside it as she got up and began to walk out of her room and down the hallway. Surprising both of the drones that stood watch over her.

“Moby, Remy, prepare a Nasod courier to send to Beacon,” She ordered them. “Asphyxious promised us that they would provide support for when the demons began their invasion and that time is now.”

“What about you, Ms. Faith?” Remy asked, watching her eyes narrow as she changed code once more to enter her Code: Battle Seraph mode.

“Ready yourselves,” She told them. “We’ve got a war to win.”

End Log 28

Log 29- I Want to Live

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- I Want to Live

Crystal Empire (Some time earlier)

“Are you sure that this is the best decision, Ms. Faith?” The question from Moby soon had Faith stop for a moment as the Code Queen turned around to face the nasod drone that had addressed her. She was honestly surprised at this since there had not been a time where Moby and Remy had questioned the decisions she made, but had decided to hear him out. “I’m not one to question your decisions, but this just seems too… reckless of a choice to make solely on your own, Ms. Faith. Would it be wiser to run it by someone else like Molly or perhaps your father-?”

“No… I’m fine with telling Molly, but I am not telling dad,” Faith boldly proclaimed. “I known my father for a long time and when things seem grim or hopeless, he tries to take it upon himself in order to fix everything… It’s been like this ever since mom died…” She paused for a moment, recalling everything that both drones had shown her only moments beforehand as Faith took a moment to catch her breath. “This is something that he can’t face on his own. I know we have Molly and everyone else, but all of us can’t be able to stand up to an invasion force… We need help and I know that Sun Wukong at Beacon can help us. I can’t just stand here and watch things happen, knowing there’s something I can do in order to save lives… Do I make myself clear, Moby?”

The drone’s only response was a small nod of it’s head as it looked at Faith. It was caught off guard by what Faith had told him and he barely had anything to say in response. “I-i’m sorry, Ms. Faith… we did not know about-.”

“It’s okay… I normally don’t talk that much about my mother anymore and what happened to her doesn’t affect me as much as it affected Dad,” She told them in response. “Now, I need you to go send that courier out as quickly as possible. Use Sun’s token as a waypoint to send the drone so it can get their safely and inform me if you have any difficulties.”

“What about you, Ms. Faith? Where are you going?” Remy then decided to speak, wanting to hear an answer from the Code Queen as she turned around and looked at them.

“I’m going to let Molly know that I’m calling for some help… I told you that I wasn’t telling my father… but I wasn’t saying no to telling Molly. She knows just as much about Nasods as I do and with her help, we can find out what needs to be done around here and get to it,” The Nasod Queen told them as she went to go find Molly. The only other thought in her mind at that moment in time being that she hoped her uncle Nicko was alright.

Ponyville

It had only been a short amount of time since he helped send his teacher back to his world and right now, the Rune Slayer named Nicko was not liking the fact that Leo was forcing him to get some rest. Even though he was technically considered his half brother since his parents had adopted him into the family, the Reckless fist was advising that he take some time to recover and be with Eris and Moondancer. Of course, he was fine with the second part. But to him, The Rune Slayer thought that Leo was overlooking the sheer amount of power and strength that he had gained because of his Transcendence and the fact that he could be able to provide much needed assistance to not only him, but the small battalion of royal guards that were in Ponyville and served as the only way for the town to defend itself. Now he felt as if he was under house arrest as he just stared up at the ceiling while lying against the bed in his room. Stretching his arm out as if to grab something that was not actually there.

“You okay, Nicky?” He looked to his right upon hearing that to see that his fiance Eris had entered in the room along with Moondancer as well.

“I guess…” He sighed as he sat up on the bed to look back at them. Before he could say anything though, Moondancer then spoke up and asked him something.

“Still a little angry about Leo forcing you to recuperate?” All the Rune Slayer could do was nod and sigh his head.

“Yeah… I mean, I was all ready to go to see what he needed help with, only to be put on the bench. That just sucks…” He said to them as the Unicorn took a seat nearby while Eris sat down next to him and nudged alongside of him. “I mean, my energy was restored while we were talking with Ryu and… I just hate it when I know there’s something I can do to help others and yet, I’m being told not to help. That’s just BS.”

“I get it… it almost sounds like whenever Mom lectures me about how I use my magic,” Eris groaned. “‘You are not allowed to use your chaos magic to make it rain Ice cream!’ she said… Granted I was still young and this was before I met you, Nicky.” That just made Nicko raise an eyebrow as he heard Moondancer giggling a little in response to Eris impersonating Princess Celestia while she was speaking.

“I’m a little surprised that Moondancer knows what you are talking about…” The spellsword replied honestly.

“Well, we did get the chance to talk amongst ourselves while we were gone,” Eris chuckled in response. “So what you know about me, Moondancer knows too.”

“Hunh… that is… rather surprising.” Nicko thought to himself as he looked back at both of them for a minute while he was trying to process something inside his brain. At this point though, he needed a second opinion on what he was thinking about because it would greatly affect not just him, but also Eris and Moondancer too. So the best way in order to figure out what to do… was ask them.

“Hey, can I ask you two about something?” Both ladies turned towards him for a moment as he got up from the bed and faced them directly. “If you were in my position right now… would you choose to stay here… or go?” It was honestly a question that he was unsure about asking them in the first place… but what he was told shortly after that surprised him.

“Well, if I were honest with you, Nicko…” Eris spoke up, before whispering something in Moondancers ear for a moment as both of them looked at him. “We think that with the way things are now… you should go out there and take the fight to the enemy.”

That caught Nicko by surprise as he raised an eyebrow. He honestly thought they would tell him to stay and help them out since they were going to have kids in the next few months, but this was unexpected. “Seriously? I h-honestly thought that you would want me to stay here with you two-.”

The female draconequus let out a snort as she looked back at the spellsword. “Come on, Nicko. Just because we’re pregnant does not mean that we’re helpless. Your parents have been helping us along with Twilight and some of her friends too…” Eris pointed out to him as she folded her arms. “But still… As the old saying goes, it’s too dangerous for you to go alone. So there are two things you should have.”

Now Nicko was getting to be a little bit curious by what Eris meant by that. “And just what exactly are those two things?” He asked as Eris soon got up and floated over and around him for a short bit before landing softly in front of the Rune Slayer. She cracked a grin for a moment before stretching out her lion paw and eagle claw simultaneously.

“First things first…” She said as the draconequus placed a talon from her eagle claw along the center of his forehead while her lion paw was directly over her heart as she closed her eyes for a moment. Nicko felt a surge of energy flow through him, feeling a little… different. How? He was not sure… but that was when Eris began to speak. “A blessing… consider it as an early wedding gift if you want to think of it that way.”

“Uh… not to be rude, Eris… but what did you just do?” He asked, puzzled by what his fiance just did. “I mean, don’t get me wrong… I didn’t think you would do anything bad, it just feels… strange.”

“Well, I believe that’s what normally happens when your body becomes accustomed to chaos magic.” That… caught Nicko off guard immediately. Especially with the last two words in that sentence. He did not know a lot about chaos magic, but from what he had seen, it made Eris and her father Discord very… unpredictable.

“Uhh… Eris, I hate to sound rude, but what do you mean by accustomed?” He posed the question for her, causing the draconequus to chuckle in response as she booped him on the nose.

“I think Eris means that she gave you some of her magic for you to use on your own…” Moondancer then spoke up as she looked at the two of them. “At least, that is what I think she did. I can never really tell what exactly Eris does sometimes unless she specifically tells me.” That just had Eris giggle again as the draconequus looked at both the Unicorn and the Rune Slayer while she was beginning to inform both of them on what she was talking about.

“Actually Moony, you are correct,” The draconequus told them. “I gave him some of my magic so that way he could have more tricks up his sleeve when combatting those demons. Their leader already knows about Nicko’s magic since it was the same magic that Starswirl had used when he originally sealed him, so this would be something that they would not see coming.”

Now that Nicko thought about it, what Eris said was rather clever. It would give him the element of surprise for sure, but like with all things, it would take some time to get familiar with first. He didn’t learn how to be as strong as he is now in a day when it came to his magic and the same could be said for him learning how to control it. But right now, he had to focus on other things for the moment. “Thank you Eris… but what exactly is the second thing?”

“Ah right… the second thing you will need is a partner,” Eris replied. “And I already thought about who would work well in this.” Nicko thought it over for a moment, before looking back at Eris and chuckling to himself.

“You’re talking about Amy, aren’t you?”

“Well, obviously I am… Heck, even Pinkie Pie told me that Amy was giving Anson a bunch of smack talk for denying her the chance to kill Eric all those years ago,” The draconequus replied, doing the air quotes motion while she was speaking. “Plus, I thought that with Umbra being with her, both of them wouldn’t say no to killing the jackass responsible for making her life a living hell.” The Rune Slayer chuckled a little as he looked back at her. Yet, he was still confused at one part.

“And how exactly are you going to ask her?”

“I have Selena on speed dial. This will just take a moment.” Eris replied, having her paw replicate that of a cell phone as she placed it to her ear by the time Nicko had finally processed what she said.

“Hold on, you have a speed dial?”

“Why of course… how else do you think I’m able to contact somepony when I can’t talk inside their head?” She posed the rhetorical question before speaking in a muffled tone. After a few seconds, Eris soon turned around and looked at them. “Okay, Selena should be here any second now…”

“Wait… you invited her?”

“Well, this isn’t exactly the kind of conversation to be having over the phone, wouldn’t you agree?” Eris told them before mentioning one other thing out of the blue. “By the way, she’s right behind you two.”

“Wait wha-?”

“You called?” That startled both Moondancer and Nicko simultaneously, causing the unicorn mare to jump into Nicko’s arms and almost fall to the ground in the process.

“Jesus christ, that almost gave me a heart attack…” Nicko coughed as he tried to straighten himself up and set Moondancer down as he look back at Selena. “Oh… Hey Selena, long time no see?”

“Likewise Nicko, so is there a reason why Eris called for me to be here?”

“Well, let’s just say that Nicky here was getting ready in order to give that son of b*tch that stole that dark el shard from Amy and also turned Umbra’s life upside down what he deserves and I was taking into consideration that maybe Amy would want to join him. After all, she’s probably pissed after what happened the last time around.” Eris told her as she explained to Selena a little bit more about what she meant. However, her surprise to the group was an… unexpected one to say the least.

“Little bit too late for that seeing how she’s already on her way to do that.” That made Nicko think that he was running behind and that he needed to catch up with her. But before he could, he heard a knock on the door as Moondancer said that she would get it… and at the door was none other than Scootaloo.

“Scootaloo?” Moondancer asked out of curiosity as she let the pegasus inside. “It’s good to see you but… what exactly are you doing here?”

“Rainbow Dash told me that I needed to stay here.” That caught everyone’s attention, including Selena’s as Scootaloo set down a rolling suitcase in the living room nearby one of the furniture pieces. “Was very insistent as well.”

“Any reason why?” Selena asked her, causing Scootaloo to shake her head in response.

“All I heard from them was her dragging Amy across the floor and then saying ‘she said one week… and I’m using it’ before locking the door to their room. I just decided to not question it and came here like she asked.” All that did was cause a bit of silence to drift across the room before that same silence was interrupted by Eris.

“Well daaaaamn, I didn’t know Rainbow was that kinky!”

“Eris!” Nicko facepalmed as he looked at her. “Is that really the best thing to say right around now?”

“What? I thought it was kind of obvious…” She said before looking back at Selena. “So I guessing that Amy is not going anywhere for a while?”

“Pretty much yeah.” Selena sighed as Nicko himself was thinking of something. Not long after did an idea come across his mind.

“Hey, what if I get an early start and then Amy can just catch up. If it all helps, I think it would be easier for her to catch up to me rather than the other way around,” The Rune Slayer proposed. To take it even further, he tested the chaos magic that Eris had given him in order to conjure something in his hands and have it solidify before offering it to Selena. “Plus, maybe this could help her as well.”

Selena, upon inspecting the item that he crafted, cracked a small grin as she looked back at the Rune Slayer. “This could work in her favor.”

“I had to go through a lot of training in order to be able to achieve Transcendence, but if Amy uses that, she’ll not only be on the same playing field as me but also have access to more skills and abilities for her to use. I thought it would help since we would be fighting together after all.” He replied back, before looking at Eris and Moondancer for a moment and turning to Selena. “I would make one for Molly, but I’m getting used to the chaos magic that Eris just gave me. Where should Amy and I meet up at whenever she’s done… spending time with Rainbow-.”

“You do realize I know what sex is right?” Scootaloo blurted out and interrupting what he was saying before going back to the comic book she was reading. Nicko honestly wanted to ask how exactly she knew about that, but decided not to question it as he looked back at Selena.

“So where should Amy and I meet? I was thinking of making my way towards Baltimare and Manehattan in the east, but I wanted to ask you first.” He then asked Selena. “Besides, who knows if Amy knows someone who can probably help us… I know about Ember and the Dragons in the dragon lands, but I would believe that all connections with other nations have been severed because of the invasion. Any ideas?”

“Well there is her brother if I’m not mistaken.”

Nicko remembered who she was talking about and looked back at her. “I mean allies of the local kind. Not the Multiversal… besides, I’m saving that option as a last resort.”

“I’m just saying. He can take care of this in less then a second. Remember, imagination and stuff.”

“I prefer a challenge then taking the easy way out,” Nicko insisted, cracking his knuckles a bit. “Besides, even though she’s made a lot of enemies here, Amy’s probably made some friends here too right?”

“ …… Define friends…That doesn’t include use?” Selena questioned as he sighed for a moment… until Eris thought of something.

“Hmm… correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Amy befriend a changeling in order to get the chance to beat the crap out of Chrysalis?” That question got a few blank looks from both Moondancer and Nicko before the spirit of chaos sighed. “What? That’s what Molly told me.”

“Other than her, who else is her friend that she hasn’t pissed off already?” At this point, Nicko sighed as he looked back at Selena for a moment.

“My point is that if we’re going to be able to push those guys back, it’s not something that Amy and I can do on our own. It needs to be a team effort… If we help out some of the local towns in pushing back the demons, then they could help other people in pushing them back as a whole.” Nicko replied as he looked back at Selena. “Besides, maybe those who we do ask for help could make it easier in the long run.”

“And how many of them are willing to seeing how not many of them can fight?”

“Hey, I just feel as if I should think out all the possible options first before calling on help…” Nicko insisted. “Rather not drag anyone in that does not want to get involved… But back to the main subject, where should Amy and I meet up? I better get a head start on getting there before nightfall if I want to meet up with her. It’ll be a lot harder to try and travel… or fight for that matter in the dark.”

“Beats me. I’m not into the whole strategy thing seeing how I mostly do my work within Amy. Speaking of her, I better get back before something else happens and I have to fix anything that she might’ve broken.”

“Fair point…” Nicko nodded, before looking at Eris. “Hey Eris, can you-?”

“Yeah, I can let her know where you are when Amy’s ready to get going.” The draconequus replied with a smile.

“Thanks Eris, you’re the best.” He told her back, kissing her on the cheek before looking back at Selena. “Thanks for stopping by, Selena. I’m glad that we were able to figure things out.”

“Don’t mention it.” She replied before disappearing a few moments later. Leaving Scootaloo with Eris, Moondancer and Nicko as the Rune Slayer was checking to make sure he had all the necessary preparations on hand. That his weapons were ready, his coat was prepared, that he had food for the journey and so on.

“Alright, looks like I have everything I need,” He said before looking back at Eris and Moondancer. “Stay safe while I’m gone. I’ll try to be back home as soon as I can.”

“You better get back here,” Eris teased, looking back at him with a slight grin. “Because once this whole demonic mess is straightened out and dealt with, we’re getting married for sure. Moony and I have been talking over the finishing touches along with a guest list of who to invite, but honestly, with the amount of people we know at this point we should just invite everybody!”

“That seems like a bit of a stretch…” Moondancer pointed out. “We’ll try to straighten out the details while you’re gone.”

“Anything else I should know about before I take off?” Nicko then asked out of curiosity. He wanted to make sure that he wasn’t missing out on any important details before he was to leave and go fight against the demons that he needed to vanquish.

“Just stay safe… that and don’t get yourself killed.” Eris chuckled, looking outside for a moment. “We’ll cover for you while you’re gone and I can keep an eye on you while you are on travel.” That caught Nicko by surprise for a moment, but he decided not to question it since Eris was probably going to do this using her chaos magic. “However, you should know that if you somehow get summoned by a displaced, it would leave me unable to contact you while you are in that Displaced’s world.”

“Meaning that you can only be able to reach me once I return?” Nicko then asked as he predicted what Eris was going to say next. What the Draconequus did was nod her head in response and smirked.

“Exactly… Oh and use the back door. If you go out through the front, the guards around Ponyville may notice you and tell Leo. Busting your chance of getting out of here and it’s really unlikely that you would get a second chance if you mess up on the first one.”

“Noted.” The Rune Slayer deadpanned, kissing both of his Fiance’s before darting out to the back door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can… I’ll make sure to give them hell for you.” With that, Nicko closed the door behind him and immediately ran off before any of the guards could notice that he was gone. And just as he left, Eris turned to hear a knock on the door as she floated over and opened it with her paw. Finding none other than Leo himself at the door.

“Oh hello Caliburn…” Eris said, acting like she had no idea what was going on. “What brings you to our little humble abode? Aren’t you suppose to be helping Leo and the guards around town?”

“I am,” He sighed, crossing his arms for a minute. “In fact, I was asked by Leo to come and see if Nicko is home. He needed to talk to him.”

“Oh? Has something come up?” Eris asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“Well, the Crystal Empire has gotten some… unexpected reinforcements because of Nicko’s niece. She sent a call out to someone named… Sun Wukong and he brought allies that could help us. Including reinforcements to help us here.” The Blade Master informed her. “I was coming on over in order to share the good news.” Now was when Eris had to put off the act and give it to him straight.

“Yeah… about that…” The Draconequus sighed, looking at the earth pony. “Nicko just left a few minutes ago so… yeah.”

Caliburn blinked a little before looking back at Eris, partially stunned. “Wait… so you’re telling me that the same guy who was only here roughly 20 minutes ago… just left? No note or anything? That doesn’t sound like him at all.”

“Oh we did talk to him and urged him to get some rest… but he kept on saying that he was already well rested and ready to fight.” The draconequus told him. “But you are welcome to have a look around the place and see for yourself if you don’t believe me. We have nothing to hide, my dear Cali~.”

“Oh no no, that would not be necessary.” He kindly refused, trying to hold back his blush. “I’ll just… be going then. Have a good day, Ms. Eris.” When the draconequus closed the door, all she could do was turn around and slide down it towards the floor. Breathing a sigh of relief before looking back at Scootaloo and Moondancer. The unicorn having a very… surprised look on her face.

“Okay, why did you just tell Caliburn the truth of what Nicko was doing? You know that Leo is going to freak out, especially with the amount of responsibility that Artemis is entrusting him with.” She said to Eris, who just happened to shrug it off as she smiled a little at Moondancer with a grin on her face as she had a look of confidence on her face.

“Oh come on… it can't be that bad now, can it?” Eris replied, trying to sound optimistic. Only to get an unexpected response from the most unlikely of individuals.

“Five seconds…” Both Moondancer and Eris turned to look at Scootaloo, who was straightening herself off of the couch and setting down the comic book she was reading. “The last time that Amy or Rainbow snuck off without telling anyone, it only took five seconds for someone to overreact. I betcha some of my bits that the same thing is going to happen.”

“Oh really now?” Eris said. “And I betcha that everything will be just fine… though, name your price.”

“Eris, is this really necessary?” Moondancer asked, sighing a little and resisting the urge to facepalm herself as both the pegasus and draconequus agreed for the bet to be fifty bits… and shortly afterwards… they heard the loudest outburst from outside that almost rocked the entire town.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE JUST RAN OFF!?! …… ERIS ALLOWED HIM TO LEAVE!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?”

“And now you owe me some bits,” Scootaloo smirked a little, causing Eris to sigh a little as she coughed up the bits that she had lost in the bet between both of them. “I think I’m going to enjoy my stay here with you guys.” All the draconequus could do was chuckle as she looked back at the pegasus and smile a bit. Keeping an eye on Scootaloo right now should help her and Moondancer once their kids were born. Speaking of which…

“Hey Moondancer, can I ask you something?” The draconequus spoke up as Moondancer looked back at her. “Have we ever decided what the names of our children were going to be?”

On the basin overlooking the badlands, two figures watched as waves of demonic monsters began to make their way around the empty canyon below as they surveyed their forces. While this was going on though, a small dark blue orb of demonic magic went up to one of them as it poured its energy into the nearest one. Once it was done, she had a message for her accomplice.

“Jin, we lost control of Canterlot.”

The other demon looked at her with both a surprised and also rather confused expression on his face. “Are you serious, In? I thought we would’ve leveled the place to the ground already like we did with some of the other cities.” He said, stretching out his shoulders. “The boss isn’t going to be too happy if he hears about this. Can’t we just reclaim it so we don’t have to report this to him?”

“That’s not going to be possible.” In interjected. “Not only was the invasion force we sent completely wiped out, but there’s now a source of magic that’s preventing us from even trying to get in. Scouts report that they noticed a large rune on the highest tower in Canterlot that’s causing us to not get in. We’ve also tried underground, which was the same way the changelings did it during the Royal Wedding invasion, but came across the same problem.”

“Brilliant… now the boss is really going to chew your ass off for this as well as mine.” The other demon groaned. But noticed that his partner’s expression did not change. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“More like something I was about to tell you in addition to what I already said.” She sternly replied, looking back at him. “Remember the Chaser we were using to get Lord Scar out in the first place?”

“You mean the little brat with the pea shooters? What about him?” Jin asked.

“He’s gone rogue,” the other demon told him. “He found out that we were lying to him the entire time and ran. Not before killing dozens of our soldiers and shooting Lord Scar in the shoulder.” That piece of information was what caught Jin by surprise.

“Sister, are you being serious?” His question was only met with a nod of her head. “That kids got stones for thinking he can get away after that.”

“He’s not going to get very far…” In responded. “Lord Scar left him mortally wounded and bleeding out. He was able to get away, but at this rate, he’ll die in the Everfree before someone finds him.” She then turned around to face her brother and partner before saying something else. “However, we can’t have the information in his head fall into enemy hands…”

“So we’re going to find him first… and make him suffer for his actions.”

“Now that is something I’m looking forward too,” Jin smirked as both of them had their weapons at the ready. “Ready or not kiddo, here we come.”

End Log 29

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQcY1aj9XTI

So yeah... that happened. Some of the events in this chapter were referencing what was going in the latest chapter of my story Monkey Business since Faith called on Sun Wukong and his friends for help. What occurs over there is going to explain what happens in the Crystal Empire while what happens over here will be what happens for Nicko.

In addition to that, the item in question that Nicko provided for Selena was this item that could be found in the cash shop on Elsword.

The item is called Book of Transcendence: Gods Will and in game, it allows for a second job character to reach transcendence without having to do the quests for it. This one though includes the properties of two other items that unlock passive transcendent skills. That way, Amy can be on the same level in strength as Nicko.

Also, I have another update for this, but I'm going to hold off on it first to push for the next chapter of my Digimon Displaced story, The Fox and the Filly. If you have the time, please check it out along with all of my other stories.

Also, wish me luck. I got finals this week... *Fingers crossed*
-Frost

Log 30- Into the Brave Frontier

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Author's Notes:

Crossover with Brave Frontier Equestria by Company Master Sebaste. I had wanted to get this finished by new years, but with the way that this stories ties into one of my others, I highly think that it's possible at this rate. In terms with this crossover, it was really fun to do this one because now that I have my tablet again, Brave Frontier is one of the games I happen to play the most. Aside from other games including Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Fire Emblem Heroes on occasion.

In other news, the new Elsword character named Ain has just been released in Korea and I will be able to get my hands on him next week so I am pretty excited. Until then, I hope you enjoy the chapter and check out Sebaste's story while you are at it. It's definitely worth it!
-Frost

Of Magic and Machines- Into the Brave Frontier

Somewhere in Equestria

It had been several hours since Nicko had originally made an important decision. After talking it over with Eris and Moondancer, he had decided that he wasn’t going to wait for if the demons were going to come knocking at their door in order to fight them. Instead, he was going to take the fight to them. There were many towns that had ponies waiting to be freed from whoever captured them and also the possibility of having potential allies to combat the invaders that encroached upon their home.

On the journey though, unlike most ponies that would go on expeditions, he wasn’t using a map or a compass to guide him. Instead, he was relying on his surroundings and also his senses. In the time it would take to pull out a map and look it over, figure out where the hell he was at and then plot a course from there, a soldier could just as easily spot him and try to capture him while he was distracted. Because one rule that he needed to follow was watch your back and be aware of your immediate surroundings. And right now, his immediate surroundings were nothing but dense forest followed by a clearing afterwards.

Just as he was about to reach the clearing though, he felt something pull the back of his coat. Turning around, the Rune Slayer did not see anyone following him… even though he still felt like he was being pulled. Which, upon realizing it, made him realize what it was as he sighed. Despite the current circumstances he was in, someone was calling upon him for a summoning. “Now of all times?” He thought to himself, sighing a bit. It had only been a couple of hours since he left Ponyville and with the pace he was going, the Rune Slayer was way ahead of schedule in terms of time. Originally, he thought that it would take him four hours to cross through the Everfree Forest and come out the other side… yet it had been two hours and he had already accomplished that small task. “Well, it would be rude if I just ignore them… I’ll be back soon, Eris.”

Looking out over the horizon to make sure that there wasn’t any incoming enemy forces whether it was ground forces on patrol or aerial forces in the sky, Nicko slowly let whoever was calling him pull him away to whoever was calling upon him. In the back of the Rune Slayer’s head, he thought that this… may actually help him. If he was able to somehow clear his mind of anything that might be a distraction, it would be a real benefit for him.

Little did he know about who was calling him… or the frontier he was about to arrive in.

Meanwhile…

“So wait… you two were beings called 'Humans’?” Rainbow asked after Mira had finished telling her story. The former human nodded in response while she cleared her throat before coming up with a proper response.

“It was quite a shock when Discord turned us into ponies. We… still have a lot to learn about our new bodies.” she replied, “But it hasn't changed our powers or abilities.”

“You said you two were thunder and light type units… What exactly are you able to do? And what exactly are 'units’?” Twilight asked, her curiosity piqued.

“In the game our characters are from, There are six elements, Light, Dark, Thunder, Earth, Water and Fire. Each affects another, so if I was going against an Earth unit, I would be very weak against it.” Cassie explained, “And units are the creatures/team members that decide to follow you or that you summon from certain gates.” As she said this, she suddenly felt something strike the back of her head. “Ow! Okay, who threw that!?” She growled, turning to the guards behind her.

They shook their heads, confused looks on their faces. Mira looked down to see a single flat stone with what appeared to be an unusual marking on it. As she picked it up with a hoof, she suddenly heard a single voice ring out in her mind. “I am Nicko. The Rune Slayer with a kind heart. The power that's in my grasp and that you control will become the power that the darkness will fear. May there be light on the roads that you travel.”

She dropped the stone in shock, stepping back while Cassie turned to her with a worried look on her face. “Mira? What happened?”

“I… I just heard a voice from that rock… Someone named Nicko and something about a Rune Slayer…” Mira said, her voice shaking a bit and causing her friend Cassie to arch an eyebrow while looking at her..

“You mean from Elsword? Please, that's impossible. There no way there's someone that's from that game here. It's probably just a prank.” She then picked up the stone and said, “Nicko, or whoever you are, mind dropping in for a sec? I need to have a few words with you…”

At that exact moment, Pinkie yelped, “TWITCHY TAIL!” The two mares looked at the others as they suddenly backed up several feet away from Cassie in the process. Making her confused as to what was actually going on and why were they looking at her like she just did something wrong.

“Um… What's going on?” She asked in confusion, while Mira just shrugged her shoulders, just as confused as her friend.

“A-anytime that Pinkie says that, s-something always falls.” Spike told them as he looked up at the sky and around him before looking back at them. “If I were you Cassie… I would probably move from where you are right now…”

Cassie snorted. “Seriously? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever hear-!” She didn't get the chance to finish before something did actually crash on top of her. Coughing up a cloud of dust as they heard a new voice speak up.

“Oww… J-just what the hell did I land on top of-?” This was an immediate surprise for not just Cassie and Mira, but also the ponies, including the princesses and the baby dragon that were with them. First off, the voice that they heard was that of a male. Second… when the cloud of dust began to subside… who they saw immediately caught their attention.

“Vargas?! I… I thought Cassie and I were the only Brave Frontier characters here…” Mira said in a shocked voice. “But since when did you shrink?”

“Uhh… Who the hell is Vargas?” The figure first asked, before realizing the second statement that was said and gritting his teeth, trying to compose himself. “Would you care to repeat that last remark… I did not quite catch that…”

Sensing that repeating the statement would only anger him more, Mira decided to change tactics and say something different to ease any tensions. “I'm sorry, I wasn't meaning to anger you-.”

“You sure? Because it sounded like you called him short!” Pinkie shouted out, only to receive glares from her friends and Mira… that only seemed to just confuse her. “What? I was just telling the truth? What’s wrong with that?”

What was wrong with it of course was seen once the figure deeply growled a bit. “Great, first I get summoned and end up flat on my ass with god knows what breaking my fall and now I’m being insulted…” He spoke before getting off of whatever he was on and straightening himself up. One thing that Mira could tell right away from this guy was that his hair matched that of the actual Rune Slayer class from Elsword. Even if he did remind the two of them of Vargas. “What a day I’m having so far.”

“Owwwww…. That hurt….” Cassie groaned as she scrambled up and flared her wings to get rid of any aches in her body from the impact. She then noticed the new figure next to her. “Who’s the Edward Elric impersonator with red hair?”

“I have a name...” He deadpanned, looking back at the Pegasus. “Besides, wouldn’t you know that since you summoned me here in the first place?”

“Summoned? But you're not from the Brave Frontier world… where exactly are you from?” Mira asked, a confused look on her face before she shook her head. “I'm sorry, I'm being rude, what is your name?” She thought that by asking for his name, it could help clarify some things and answer some questions that were inside her head.

Unfortunately, all that did was have more questions begin to form inside her head instead of less. “My name is Nicko Nocte… May I ask for your name, miss?”

“Miriam, Miriam Dragos. And that Pegasus you landed on is Cassandra Dayros.” She replied, stepping forward so that Nicko could see her clearly. She then realized something. “Wait, that was your voice that came from that stone??

“Well, you did use my summoning token to bring me here in the first place.” The Rune Slayer did mention to her, thinking that they had some sort of idea as to what a displaced was.

“Not to mention that you did ask for him to drop on in.” Rainbow snickered, only leading to Pinkie sighing deeply as she turned to face her friend.

“Leave humor to the professionals, Dashie.” Pinkie Pie told her before bouncing around a little to try and get a better angle at the Rune Slayer himself. He was directly facing Mira and Cassie, meaning that the only thing that the earth pony could see was the back of his cloak.

“Token? What are you even talking about?” Cassie asked. That soon caused Nicko to sigh as he looked back at the two of them. He personally had thought that they had met another displaced before… but as it turned out, they had no prior experience whatsoever… just the perfect position to be placed in.

“You two have no idea at all about the Displaced, do you?” He asked them, knowing personally that they were going to shake their heads no.

“Never heard of them, and we still need to catch up on what’s happening after being turned to stone to help stop Discord…” Mira said, “Not to mention we need to find a way to change back into our original bodies…”

“Well, let me make this quick… I’m going to take a very wild guess that you were originally humans and that through some random series of unfortunate events, you’re now here.” The Rune slayer guessed as he waited for the response that followed.

“We were sent here after Mira picked up a battle crystal and it started glowing. After that, we had to avoid some of the creatures while we learned about our powers. We met Celestia and Luna a few weeks after, they had just suffered a defeat from Discord, we had our own encounter with him a week before and we barely managed to defeat him before he retreated. A month later, Celestia, Luna, Mira and I fought him at a ruined town. It was there-” Cassie managed to explain before Mira interrupted.

“Wait, How do you know about us originally being humans?”

“Two things… First, you did say you were trying to find a way to change back into your original bodies like five minutes ago,” Nicko pointed out to them. “Second, the same thing ended up to me… just with different circumstances and in a different Equestria… and before you ask, yes… The Multiverse is real.”

Those four words only had one proper reaction from a particular unicorn that was listening as Twilight almost fainted from her brain overloading from all the information she was trying to process.

The two former humans looked at Nicko in shock. “So there are other Equestrias? That's… that's impossible!” Mira stammered.

“You may think that, but I’m telling you two the truth.” Nicko told them, shrugging his shoulders. “However, what you think about it isn’t really up to me… Both of you are Displaced… or dimensionally misplaced for short. So am I and almost the hundred to possibly thousands of other people out there that have also been displaced. Hell, some people aren’t even displaced as humans.”

“We didn't ask to get turned into ponies, that was Discord that turned us into them.” Cassie growled. Nicko sighed, walking over to them and getting down on their level.

“Let me fix that… fair warning though, this may sting.” Nicko told them, before having magic form in his right hand as he delivered a quick backhand smack to the two of them “Enchant Break!”

It may have hurt temporarily, but there was a reason Nicko did the ability in the first place. Enchant Break was a skill that removed any elemental buffs in exchange for damage. But Nicko had went a little further with experimenting when it came to this skill so it would also work against status effects and with the extra magic that was applied… included transformations as well… at least, that’s what he thought. When he saw the magic he applied did work though, he breathed out a sigh of relief. “ Oh thank Artemis that actually worked.”

Lying on the ground were now two human females wearing light armor and skirts. But the big surprise was that one of them had wings that were pure electricity. Cassie groaned before she saw that her hoof was now a hand. She leapt into the air in shock and surprise, and quickly felt her face. “I'm… human again…” She whispered. She then landed and saw that her blade was sheathed at her side. Pulling it out, she saw that it crackled with the same energy her wings were made of. Pure electricity like that from a thunderstorm. Mira meanwhile had also gotten up, and while she was also shocked, she controlled it better than her friend. She then closed her eyes before the air around her shimmered and eight swords appeared around her. With a quick wave of her hands, she then caused them to vanish.

“Well that’s something you don’t see everyday.” Nicko smirked.

“And I thought you hit them because you were still a bit mad at when they called you short.” Applejack spoke up.

“Yeah……. That’s just a small bonus.”

Cassie snorted and rolled her eyes. “Seriously, has anyone told you that you have a temperament like Edward Elric every time someone called you short?” She asked as she sheathed her blade. “Because you acted just like him when you got mad, minus the anime signs of anger.”

“Try being in a home for adopted children for 12 years and having all of your talents and skills overlooked because of your height,” The Rune Slayer told her. “Then you would know how I feel.”

Mira winced. “I can understand that. I was teased in school because I was born with white hair, among other things. It… wasn't a good time for me.” She said, rubbing her left arm.

Hearing this made Nicko think of something before speaking again. “Then I think you would love meeting my niece, Faith. She has white hair as well and is a Code Queen. Has two nasod drones with her wherever she goes.”

Cassie chuckled before she replied, “It’s honestly been awhile since Mira and I have played Elsword back on Earth. So sorry if we confused you with someone else earlier.”

“Nah it’s alright… In fact, now that you mention it… you two look a lot like some characters from a game I used to play myself… I think the name of it was Brave Frontier if I remember correctly. Sorry, my memory’s a bit shaky… Especially when I accidentally got turned to stone by the elements sometime back.” The Rune Slayer replied, scratching the back of his head. “It’s a long story and it involves a psychotic Diabolic Esper who went mad with power.”

“We just got free of being statues ourselves. We still have 10,000 years of history to catch up on, but sacrificing yourself to stop Discord will do that to you…” Mira chuckled.

“Yeah it does… Good thing I still have my magic and don’t have to start from scratch,” He replied, having a rune form in his hands before dismissing it. “That would suck if I had to start over-.”

“What the hay was that!?” Twilight asked, shocked to see the new figure that had arrived only seconds ago being able to perform magic… and high level magic no less.

“That’s my power. I have control over Rune Magic and where I’m from, only my friend Moondancer and myself have control over it. The only other pony that was capable of doing it was Starswirl the Bearded and he died before being able to complete his research on Rune magic. Plus, I’m the only one that can read his notes.”

Celestia then cleared her throat. “The reason I had brought the Element bearers here is because last night, both Luna and I had the same dream. Ponies under attack by creatures we saw back in Discord’s time, but controlled by an unknown enemy. And just recently I received news of an attack on a town near Fillydelphia, two survivors were found on the outskirts of the city. From what they described, the town was attacked by a group of four legged creatures that spat out fire.”

“And these creatures aren’t dragons at all?” Nicko then asked, folding his arms. “Because some dragons don’t need to have wings, but can be just as deadly on all four legs.” Scratching his chin, he thought of something for a moment before looking back at the two princesses. “Did the two survivors give a description of the beasts themselves? Like help the guards compose a rough sketch?”

“They mentioned that every time the creatures breathed fire, their whole body would go up in flames also. They were a dark red with glowing yellow eyes and a crocodile like mouth.” At this, both Mira and Cassie looked at Celestia in shock. While Nicko himself could only think of one thing in his head when he looked back at the two princesses.

“Salamanders…” He said before looking at Mira and Cassie. “You two thinking what I’m thinking?”

They nodded before Cassie said, “I think so, but where are we gonna get a pool table at this time?” That just caused Nicko to look back at her before facepalming himself and then turning his gaze towards Mira. He adjusted his gear and then summoned one of his own weapons as it released a warm red glow from it as he looked back at both of them.

“Something tells me we got a lot of work to do first before you get that.” Nicko mentioned. “I may have other objectives to do back home, but I can’t just leave when you guys are in need of help.”

Mira nodded before her blades appeared around her. She then turned to Celestia and Luna and asked, “Where exactly is this town?”

“I do not know, but one of the survivors, a unicorn named Bird Seeker can lead you to it. But be warned, she’s still traumatized by what happened to it.” Luna answered.

“And what of the other survivor? Are they still recovering?” Nicko then asked them.

“Yes, the filly is still recovering, but it will take a long time before she can talk about this without going into a panic attack.”

“Well, maybe we should start with the filly,” He suggested. “Don’t worry… I have an idea that can work. Just let me try it and see what I can find.”

Celestia nodded. “Very well. I wish you three luck.” With that, Nicko let both Mira and Cassie guide him to where they needed to go before having the princesses help them out. He believed that since they knew more about their world then he did, the Rune Slayer would let them guide him to where they needed to go first.

After getting directions from a guard, the three stopped at a small building where the two were staying. Mira then knocked on the door and stepped back. After a few minutes, the door opened and a timid mare peeked out. “Yes? May I help you?” She asked in a shaky voice

“Would you happen to be Bird Seeker by any chance?” Nicko asked the mare, making sure to do it softly and not try to intimidate the mare accidently. “We wanted to talk to you about something. Can we come in please?”

She nodded hesitantly before she opened the door wider to allow the three inside. The room itself looked to be a small home that had a big living room and kitchen area. One in with the mare guided them too and asked if they could have a seat at the table. Nicko himself dismissed his weapon so that way he didn’t give off a bad and intimidating impression to the pony that he was trying to help.

As Mira sat down, she saw a filly peeking out from the hallway, peering nervously at her and her companions. Nicko noticed the young filly as well, but shortly after seeing her, the filly scurried off down the hall and into her room, closing the door behind her. He was wanting to ask Bird Seeker about it, but held off in doing so. Thinking that Mira or Cassie could help by starting off the conversation.

“We… heard of what happened to your town… and… well… we wanted to try and help you somehow… Can you try and tell us what exactly happened?” Mira asked. “We’re not asking for much. Just only what you can remember… if that’s okay with you, Ms. Seeker.”

Bird Seeker nodded before she began to explain, “I was on my way home after visiting a friend a few blocks down. After a few miles I suddenly heard screaming, and as I ran up to where it was coming from, I saw the entire south side on fire. Ponies were running for their lives from the blaze, and what had caused the blaze was stalking up behind them. They were these big dark red lizard like creatures with yellow glowing eyes and a crocodile like mouth. They spat jets of flame, and any pony or anything that was caught in those flames…” She shuddered in fear. “I saw Little Leaf, the filly you just saw, looking for her parents. Unfortunately, her parents were killed when a burning building collapsed on them as they ran through the town. Both she and I were the only ones to make it out alive.” She then fell silent. Both Mira and Cassie looked at her with horrified eyes, Mira holding a hand to her mouth.

“Dear god, that sounds horrible…” Nicko commented.

“I… I’m so sorry….” Mira whispered, her voice sounding shaken. Her mind flashed back to a memory she could never forget, the cries of people trapped in a burning building, her crying out for her parents in a strange room. Cassie noticed her adopted sister starting to freeze up and knew what exactly was happening.

“Mira, snap out of it. That happened a long time ago.” She said gently, while putting a hand on her shoulder. “You had no control over those events.”

Seeing that Cassie was tending to Mira, Nicko thought of something and decided to speak up and ask her something. “What was the name of the town where this took place?”

“Sun’s Hollow.” Bird Seeker replied. “Why did you want to know?”

“Well… My first thought would be if there was anything the town that might’ve attracted the monsters to attack in the first place. From my experience, some monsters don’t attack unless otherwise provoked so if there was something there that was luring them in the first place, maybe that might explain why they came to the town in the first place.” He explained, looking at Cassie afterwards. “It’s just a thought, but right now, it’s the only thing we got. I would only think that by going there would we find out why they attacked in the first place.”

“You… You want me to take you three to where the town was?” She asked nervously.

“Not exactly take, but maybe tell… do you have a map of sorts?” Nicko asked.

She nodded and said, “I do, it’ll take some time to find it.” before leaving the room.

Mira then slumped in her chair and groaned. “I’m sorry for freezing up like that, hearing what Ms. Seeker just described brought back some bad memories…” she said.

“Nah, it’s alright.” Nicko insisted. “I understand what you mean. I met some people that have had that happen to them and early on when I was displaced, I had to go through something like that myself. Why do you think that before I was displaced, my brother and I were in an orphanage for roughly twelve years?” Both of them were silent at that for a moment and Nicko himself was quiet. Trying to not interrupt their thought process. But by the time they were going to say something, Bird Seeker had returned with the map that was requested.

“The best way to get to Sun’s Hollow is from the train station near Fillydelphia. There should be a path leading to it, but… please be careful. Bandits hide in the woods near it.” She said as she handed the map to Nicko. He noticed some of the scribbles that were on it and also looked at where she circled the town itself… and placed x marks on other locations that she determined as danger zones. However, there was one zone in mind that was close to the mountain range nearby that was relatively close to the town itself. And if that was not relatively off putting… the name was.

Firelight Ridge

“Thanks Bird Seeker. This will help us a lot.” He thanked her, letting Cassie and Mira examine the map themselves.

“You’re welcome. And… I hope you avenge the lives lost there.” She replied. “None of this should have happened…”

“We will make sure to get to the bottom of this, I promise you that.” Nicko replied to her as he put a hand on one of her hooves to comfort her. “Whatever it takes, we will make sure to find out why they came, avenge the fallen and help those souls be at peace.” With that, he stepped out of the room, taking the chance to get some fresh air and allowing for both Cassie and Mira to process the map a little bit longer.

The sound of hooves suddenly made him turn around and he saw Little Leaf hesitantly walk up to him. “Is it true you’re going to my home?” She asked, her voice squeaking.

“Y-yeah it is…” He said briefly. The Rune Slayer was unsure if the young filly overheard their conversation at all, but he did not want to make things sound overly complicated. Especially when telling a young filly who basically lost everything. Including her friends, family… and her home.

“So you and the Blade Queen and the Thunder Phoenix are gonna fight those monsters?”

“Yes we are” He answered, not trying to go too much into detail. He was talking to a child after all and long explanations would either not make sense or bore her unintentionally. “Hang on… Blade Queen and Thunder Phoenix? Are you referring to Cassie and Mira?”

She nodded. “The Blade Queen is known for wielding eight floating blades while the Thunder Phoenix has wings made of lightning that disappear after she makes her attacks but return afterwards. Most ponies know about this!” She said.

“Well, I’m not like most ponies,” He mentioned, which was true. “In fact, some may just consider me as a traveler here… I’m capable of many great things, but I’m not from here. I come from somewhere far… different to put it simply.” He honestly thought of continuing, but at this point, he thought that he had already spoken enough. Didn’t exactly want to tell a little filly about the multiverse… course she probably wouldn’t understand it either but it wasn’t his job to try and complicate things.

“How exactly are you not like most ponies?”

“Well… that’s not so easy to explain…” Nicko replied. “But to make things simple, I’m just as good with a sword as I am with sorcery.” To demonstrate, he showed her one of the simple runes he could form from an outstretched hand as he had it disperse a few moments later and had the magic scatter like dust.

Before she could ask more, Bird Seeker’s voice called out from the house. “Little Leaf, it’s time for dinner! Come back inside!” The sound of footsteps was then heard as Cassie and Mira walked out, followed by the unicorn mare herself. She chuckled as she looked at Nicko and the filly. “I should have warned you, she has quite an inquisitive mind.” She remarked.

“It’s never wrong to be curious,” He replied. “She looks to be pretty… interested in some of my magic.” He looked to Cassie and Mira shortly before asking them something. “Do we have everything that we need?”

They nodded. “Ready when you are.” Cassie said, holding up the map.

“Let’s go then… I’m following you guys since you may know more about this place then I do.” He admitted, scratching the back of his head in a bit of embarrassment.

“If it’s any comfort to you, we’re pretty much going in blind also. We still don't know many of the places here or what’s changed in 10,000 years.” Mira replied. He nodded his head while the two of them walked, acknowledging everything they said while they made their way to Canterlot’s gate.

“To be fair, the Equestria I’m familiar with is a lot different from yours… and not just by landmarks either.” The Rune Slayer told them. “Come on though, let’s get going before Pinkie Pie tries to throw us a going away party.”

Cassie landed next them and nodded in agreement. “To be honest, she creeps me out…” She said, shuddering. “If she’s that hyper, I don't want to know how much sugar she inhales on a daily basis…”

“She works at a bakery… I think that pretty much tells you how much.” Nicko told her as they went outside the gate to the Canterlot Train Station.

Cassie groaned and said, “Forget I said anything…”

Mira giggled at that as they arrived on the platform before turning serious. “Hopefully we’re dealing with just Salamanders and bandits… If not, we may be getting in over our heads…” She said.

“Trust me, you don’t know the kind of things I have to put up with on a regular basis.” Nicko mumbled, reflecting on all the challenges that he had to overcome over the years from the people he met to the monsters he had to defeat. Yup, there was definitely a lot.

“What kinds of things?” Cassie asked, looking over at Nicko.

“Well… let’s just say that a friend of mine is a Crimson Avenger who thinks the best way to get ponies attention is to make it look like blood is dripping from the walls and shouting “HEY KIDS, WANNA SEE A DEAD BODY!?!” to scare anypony, A lot of my family members ended up as other Elsword Displaced, my teacher is a Kaiser dragon who thinks the best way to train you by almost killing you, a lot of the displaced I met are good friends that can drive you nuts and back home, I need to fight back against a series of demons that are trying to control my home… Care for me to explain more?”

The two looked at him in disbelief. “That’s… a bit disturbing with what your friend did…. And you have a teacher that’s a dragon?! And I thought Sasha didn't make sense with his talk about a game called Warhammer 40,000… Wait, you said there were more of these ‘displaced’!?” Mira asked in shock. Cassie rolled her eyes, knowing that her sister had a small crush on the guy after they had met him and two of his friends back on earth.

“Trust me. There’s a LOT more. Some of them play the role of the hero, some play the role of the bad guy and sometimes, some displaced are like ‘screw the rules, I do what I want and I’m having fun while doing it’. It just honestly depends on not just what they are displaced as, but where they end up,” The Rune Slayer told them as the train soon arrived to go to Fillydelphia station. Once they were all on board, he soon picked up where they left off. “For my world, all the ponies and other creatures are anthropomorphic and Celestia has a brother named Artemis instead of a sister and for a friend of mine I know named Lance, Twilight and her friends in that universe are superheroes in a city called Maretropolis… and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

“How exactly did you encounter all of them? There must be like millions of Equestrias!” Cassie said, ignoring the surprised and amazed looks she was getting from the ponies nearby. “Unless they suddenly appeared in your Equestria, I’m finding it hard to believe that you’ve met all of those displaced in a day.”

“You summon them,” Nicko replied, pointing at the mark that was his token. “Each Displaced has a summoning token unique to them and by calling upon them, they can come to you. However, it works two ways and a displaced you try to summon can end up resisting and bring you to them instead. We can make you two a token later though. Right now, let’s focus on the task at hand.”

Mira nodded, the minute wings on her back shifting and causing her hair to shift with them. “Cassie and I have encountered Salamanders before, back in Discord’s time. They’re very territorial, but… I’ve never heard of them banding together and suddenly torching a town. They usually stay in their own territories.” She said, tapping her chin in thought. “It’s almost like someone took over their minds…”

“I have a feeling that might be what happened.”

Cassie frowned. “But the only one that could do that was Discord, and he’s sealed in stone!” She said. “So there’s no way someone else could have done it!”

“You do realize that there are more possible threats than just Discord himself right?” Nicko replied back, looking at them. “Remember when you mistaked me as Vargas? Maybe there’s someone from wherever you guys are that’s pulling the strings this time.” Before being Displaced, Nicko liked playing Brave Frontier on an old Google Nexus Tablet he used to have, so he had some knowledge of it. But it was only a small amount compared to what Cassie and Mira might’ve known.

The three of them rode the train all the way to Fillydelphia Station before getting off of it and scanning the area. They were warned about the possibility of bandits attacking them, but the three of them stuck to the path and Nicko did not feel the presence of any bandits in the vicinity. But he did smell the scent of something burning in the area… and from looking at an old wooden signpost and seeing the words Sun’s Hollow across the front of a sign pointing to the left, they all began to hurry.

The three crested the hill and stopped as they looked on in disbelief at what used to be a town, but was now a burnt shell. Mira gagged as she spotted the scorched skeletons of the ponies, Stallions, mares and foals, that never had a chance to escape lying in the streets. She turned her head as tears welled up in her eyes. Cassie had a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. “My god….” She whispered as she grasped her sister's hand.

While Mira and Cassie were horrified by what they saw, Nicko was all too familiar with it. He did feel sorry for those that lost their lives, but thought that something was… off. For one thing, why would skeletons be laying around outside in particular. He only had one thought as to why… and if that was they were undead.

“It’s not pretty, is it?” A voice spoke up behind them, causing them to spin around to see a young human male wearing blue clothing and silver armor. But what caught their eye was the massive halberd he was holding in one hand. “They were caught out in the open when those Salamanders attacked, they never stood a chance against that fire breath.”

“And who would you happen to be? You got some nerve to try and approach us from a possible blindspot,” Nicko pointed out, summoning one of his blades known as Ebalon.

“The name’s Karl, a summoner from Grand Gaia. And who are you? You look like Vargas, but a bit more on the small side.” The stranger replied. “Me and another colleague managed to drive the Salamanders off, but we were too late to save the rest of this village.”

The Rune Slayer remembered the name, but twitched a little in irritation once he heard him call him small. Cassie rolled her eyes before she then realized something. “Wait, you said ‘Grand Gaia’, how did you end up in Equestria?”

“Let me take a wild guess then,” Nicko replied, folding his arms before saying what was on his mind. “You were summoned here… Better yet, you mentioned another colleague, so it’s best to assume that right now you are not alone.” He had a feeling of this because if this were true, this colleague could be hiding somewhere else or viewing Karl from a possible vantage point if it were an archer.

“Tilith said that a world needed our help, but we weren't expecting a world filled with sentient equines.” Karl replied. That had Nicko think back to when he used to play Brave Frontier with the names that we’re being mentioned. But he still felt that he needed to investigate around the village to look for clues.

At that moment, a human female came running up and stopped next to Karl. “Karl, what do you think you’re doing?! We’re supposed to be watching these three, not interact with them!” She growled. She was dressed in red light armor and wielding a massive great sword that glowed with fiery runes. “Honestly, and I thought you wanting to help save that village was bad enough!”

Now that was a lot different than what Karl originally said… and Nicko was honestly expecting this. There seemed to be more to this summoner that meets the eye and now was when more details were coming to light.

“Seria, what was I supposed to do, not try and save those villagers? We may not have been able to stop the Salamanders, but at least we drove them back!” Karl snapped. Seria snorted before she turned to the three.

“So you two are the new summoners here? I’m not impressed.” She said, looking at Mira and Cassie before addressing Nicko, “And who are you suppose to be, Vargas the Midget?” She asked

Nicko grit his teeth, gripping his blade. “Do I look like him to you? Besides, if I tried explaining it to you, you’ll be too confused to understand.”

Seria snorted. “I know a rookie summoner when I see one. And I doubt you’ve seen combat. So leave the fighting to the real summoners, short stuff.” At this, both Cassie and Mira winced. Nicko was really beginning to not like how she was pulling the short card on him.

“Are you just trying to provoke me based on appearance?” Nicko replied, looking at her as they saw some of his magic radiating from him. It was strong and very dense as she looked back at him. “Because we have a job to do and all you’re doing is preventing us from doing the right thing, lady.”

Karl gave Seria a warning look before he said, “We won’t get involved in your mission, but a word of warning. It’s not just Salamanders that are around, I saw a few Slyphs also.”

Cassie nodded before she leapt into the air and hovered above them. While the two summoners were walking and leaving the area, Nicko soon got to work on examining some of the homes that had been burned down as well as some of the other building too. He was doing this on his own because he thought that Mira needed a little bit of time to process everything before pitching in.

Soon though, when Nicko was examining what remained out of the building that were left, he soon came across something after having to remove a fallen bookcase. Some of the debris from it fell on something that was metal in nature. Metal? That was… unexpected for most common homes… unless there was some sort of basement. He soon pulled out his sword and removed some of the debris that was there before looking at his discovery. “Son of a b*tch…”

“Nicko? Did you find something?” Mira asked as she walked up to him.

“Oh it’s more than something alright,” Nicko told them as he showed the two of them what he found. “It’s the door to a storm cellar. Locked. And judging from it’s appearance… it can only be locked from the inside.” Telling them this, he looked back at the two of them as he prepared some of his magic just in case.

“What do you think it means?” She asked.

“Well, if there weren’t actually any survivors… this would be unlocked… somepony must’ve ran and hid in here because right now, the door is locked.” He explained to them. “And with the debris that was originally on top of it, it would be impossible for anypony to get out with that much weight against the door.”

Just as he finished talking, all three of them heard a click! go off as what was around the door began to loosen. Soon, they saw the door lift up and what they saw come out surprised them. It was a young pegasus and a pair of unicorn twins. All of them around the same age as Little Leaf and they were at first scared to see them. “D-don’t be scared… We’re here to help you.” Nicko told them, shortly before the pegasus began to speak.

“D...do you know what happened to our parents? They had us hide in here before the monsters attacked… We… We heard their screams….” She began to break down. Nicko placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort them in the process.

“I… don’t know. I’m sorry… Out of everyone in the town, you three, Bird Seeker and another filly named Little Leaf are the only ones who weren’t harmed. Are you three harmed at all? How long were you in that cellar for?” He asked them. Trying to help the fillies required for him to know this because he didn’t know if they had food or water in the cellar or how long they were in there for.

“Eighteen hours.” the colt replied shakily. “Bright Day has a sprained wing from tripping on the cellar step.” Nicko noticed the bandaged wing upon looking at the pegasus before turning to Mira and Cassie.

“Mira, Cassie, look around and try to see if you can find anything that we can use to help them. We need to get them back to Canterlot and fast.” The Rune Slayer told both of them before looking back at them and telling them to stay close to them and make sure to stay close to him no matter what happened.

The two summoners nodded before they searched through the ruined buildings for anything that would help them and the foals. Mira then noticed what looked like four green bottles and picked them up. Her eyes widened as she realized what they were. “Cassie, I found four Cure bottles!” She called out.

“Great! I just found a few Tonics!” Cassie replied.

That was a good sign if Nicko ever heard of one. Not only did it mean that there was something to heal them in the meantime, but also they had a few extra on hand just in case

But as Mira headed back to the house that Nicko was in, she heard the sound of wings and a female voice said, “Well well well, what do we have here? A summoner that lost its way?” Mira then turned to see a green skinned winged human female with hair that waved in the wind the wings created as they flapped. Three others like her looked on in amusement.

“I had a bad feeling that our luck would run out soon,” He groaned, looking back at them. “What do you want?”

“Our boss wanted us to make sure there weren't any survivors, and to take out anyone that tried to make any kind of rescue attempt.” One of the other Slyphs replied with a smirk.

“Oh really? Is that so?” Nicko replied, looking back at them with his weapon in hand. “And what makes you think I’m going to let that happen?”

A sudden growl was heard as a pair of humanoid figures with bull heads wielding massive one handed axes that glowed with electrical runes flanked by three of the creatures that Bird Watcher had described stomped towards the two. “Please, like a stunted Vargas and a poor excuse for Blade Queen Sefia is gonna do much against us.” The lead Sylph chuckled nastily.

“Then how about we even up the odds?” Cassie’s voice said as she landed in front of them and drew her sword, Mira summoning hers as well.

“Please… what are you going to do? Get another stunted friend like this pipsqueak over here?” One of the Sylph taunted, causing the rest of them to laugh in response. That was… until a rune blew up in its face and caused the monster to drop to the ground.

“Say… that… again…” Nicko growled. “I dare you! Say… THAT… AGAIN!!!”

“Quiet you runt! No one hurts my sisters and gets away with it!” The lead Sylph snarled as her hand crackled with electrical energy. She then looked over at the Minotaurs and Salamanders. “Kill them! Their heads will please the boss!”

Now that was when Nicko was extremely pissed off. He just about HAD it with everyone calling him short or runt to the point that his blood began to boil. “Cassie… Mira… get down.” He warned, shortly before having a rune be thrown above his head. It looked ordinary in scope, but it soon turned into a black hole that pulled all the monsters in as several runes imprisoned the enemies inside and massive swords made of pure magic soon took form “Shining… Rune… BUSTER!!!” He shouted, causing the swords to converge on their targets and for everything to explode. Defeating all the opponents standing there… and leaving the one sylph that was talking smack about them earlier.

“You… YOU WILL PAY!!!” She screeched before Mira charged forward and slammed her swords into the Sylph, the blades suddenly flashing and both burning and blinding the thunder type unit and draining her power in the process. Severely weakened, the Sylph fell to the ground and looked up at Mira. “What are you waiting for? End me….” She muttered.

“We have a few questions we’d like to ask you first.” Cassie growled as she grabbed the creature by the neck and lifting her up. “Why was this town attacked and most of the inhabitants killed?”

“Our master… She wanted to let the rulers of this world know that she will show no mercy to those beneath her!” The Sylph gasped. “So she had this town attacked as a warning!”

“Who is this ‘master’ you speak of?” Mira spoke up.

“Maxwell… She has fallen and is now hell bent on conquering this new world with the other three fallen Gods…” The Sylph said before Cassie tossed her to the ground. Looking at where the other creatures had fallen, Mira saw blue crystals floating on the ground near the unconscious forms. Stretching out her hand, many of the crystals flew over to her before being absorbed. All but one, which she held in her hand and gazed at, her thoughts churning.

Nicko had a feeling that this was going to get ugly, so he had the kids follow him out of the room while Mira was interrogating the Sylph. Besides, after something like that, they must’ve been shaken a bit after almost having monsters try to harm them.

“If the four Fallen Gods are trying to invade Equestria, then they chose the wrong universe to invade.” Mira said, looking up from the crystal in her hand to the quaking Sylph. “Tell your master that the Blade Queen and Phoenix Thunder will stop at nothing to defeat her.” Her blue eyes flashed in anger as she finished, “And that she will pay for her crimes.”

“I can’t! She’ll kill me if I tell her that we failed!” The Sylph sobbed. “Take me with you, but I beg you, don’t send me back to Maxwell!” That was when Nicko remembered something. In the original Brave Frontier, some monsters you can encounter can also become units that you can add in your party. This Sylph was asking for her to join, even though of the wrongdoings that she might’ve committed.

“Why should we, after what you and your friends did to these ponies?” Cassie growled. “You cut them down without mercy, even going so far as to kill children!”

The Sylph bent her head in shame. “I never took part in the violence! I was just giving orders!!” She pleaded. “Please, help me…”

Mira sighed. “Very well, but you will serve time for what you have done by helping us stop Maxwell and the three other fallen gods.” She said. The Sylph sighed in relief.

“Oh thank Lord Lucius…” She sighed. “I won’t let you down.” That had Nicko relieved, but also made him wonder if either Cassie or Mira was going to remind her about what… irritates him.

Cassie then looked over at Nicko before saying, “Let’s get these three to Canterlot. And we need to let Celestia and Luna know what we just learned.” She then turned to the Sylph. “Do you have a name?”

“Serinisa, or Serine for short.” Serin replied.

Nicko acknowledged what he was told, but upon turning around was when he noticed that the children had actually found an old wagon that was still functional and big enough for Bright day because of her injuries. “Heh… smart kids.”

Cassie noticed that Mira was still holding the battle crystal and asked, “Everything okay?” Mira nodded.

“Yeah, just remembering when we first arrived here in Equestria. Who knew that the replica of this would send us to this world…” She replied, looking at the ruins. That part got Nicko to think of something. If that crystal sent them there in the first place… then there was the possibility that the crystal was indeed their token.

Cassie chuckled and ruffled her sister's hair. “Even though we got turned into ponies and stoned by six gems?” She asked, getting a small laugh from Mira.

“At least it’s not as bad as it was back home. I was getting tired of being teased about my hair.” Mira said.

“Hey, are you two ready to get back to Canterlot?” Nicko then asked.

“Yeah, we’re coming!” Cassie retorted good naturedly. That was a good sign as they began the long journey back to the royal city. It had taken a long time and some changes to be made once they got to the train station, but everything was able to hold out for the most part.

“Hey, Mister?” One of the children asked Nicko once they were on the train back. “Where’s that Serine lady?”

“Oh her? I think she’s in the last car on the train.” Nicko answered honestly as he looked back at Mira and Cassie… until Bright Day asked one particular question.

“Isn’t that the cargo hold?”

“I HAVE A FEAR OF TRAVELING IN CRATES IN TIGHT SPACES!!!”

The Rune Slayer himself was unsure of what to say and just shrugged his shoulders as he looked back at them. “To be honest, I’m not quite too familiar with what certain cars on this train are. Only been on some a couple of times and haven’t really had much time to look around to tell you the truth.”

“What happened the first time you were on a train?” Cassie asked while Mira sat nearby, her thoughts wandering as she stared at the crystal in her hand.

“Do you honestly want to know? For me, that was seven years ago and most of the train ride turned into a hostage crisis.” Nicko sighed, looking back at Cassie and Mira. “That and it involved a draconequus that was helping me at the time who had a weird sense of humor.”

“Another Draconequus? There’s more of Discord’s kind?” Mira asked, looking up.

“Depends on the world you end up,” Nicko explained. “For me, that was the first time I met Eris, Discord’s daughter… It’s a lot to explain but right now, she’s pretty important with how things are going for me back home.”

“Important how?” Cassie asked, her eyes curious.

“Well for one thing, she’s my fiance… second, she’s been there through every challenge I had gone through and we worked together as a team. She hasn’t been with me lately due to… reasons, but I care for her as much as she cares for me.” That… surprised both Cassie and Mira. But this made them also a little more curious as to what happened to Discord in particular.

“What happened to Discord?” Mira asked.

“That… well, that in itself is a little funny… but I’m not sure if I should say it because technically for me… what happens to him hasn’t happened yet.” The spellsword told them, which in turn, surprised both of them.

Mira then asked the question that had been on her mind for a while now, “How many displaced have you met or encountered?”

“A lot, that’s for sure. Kind of lost track after a while though.” He admitted, scratching the back of his head. “But out of some of the displaced I did meet, I met other magic users, a quincy from Bleach along with a Soul Reaper, quite a few dragons and even some guy that was Handsome Jack. Just to name a few.”

Cassie noticed the light in Mira’s eyes and sighed. “Cassie, there is no way Sasha could be in another Equestria. For all we know, he could still be somewhere on earth.” She said.

“The last time I heard from him, he and two of his friends were going to some Comic-con. After that, I heard from another friend of his that they had disappeared after visiting this weird vendor…”

“That’s… actually what happens in most cases with Displaced.” Nicko replied, looking back at them and sighing a bit. “But I do know someone that might be able to help you guys if you have the time. I know that you’re new to this and a lot of Displaced are when they first get sent to their worlds. Fortunately, my friend Sun Wukong is doing something about it.”

“The faunus from RWBY?” Cassie asked.

“Yeah. A lot of the displaced in his world are based on RWBY and he’s actually set up a Beacon Academy in his world. The only difference is that this beacon is for newly displaced.” Nicko told them, smirking a little. “In fact, once I’m done with some of the things in my world, I’ll begin teaching classes there.”

“Hmm… Sounds like something for us to check out.” Cassie chuckled. She then frowned and asked, “Except how exactly does one enter this academy?”

“To do that, you need to meet Sun himself,” Nicko said as he took a gold medallion out of his pocket and duplicated it using his powers. “And the best way to do that is with his token. Once you are familiar with how to go to other worlds, you can use this to get to his. He’ll be sure to let you in if you tell him that you talked to me.”

Cassie nodded as she took the token. Mira then spoke up, “How exactly do you make a token?”

Nicko sighed a little, looking back at them for a moment before taking out his own token as an example. “Well, normally, you would pick something that represents you two, channel your energy into it and then say something. Normally, when you get other tokens, you hear who the token belongs too and how you summon them. Those other displaced say that before letting that token go into the void… don’t worry, you’ll still be allowed to keep your own token. It’ll send copies of your token into the void in which someone else will find and call upon you in times of need.”

“That sounds kinda complicated,” Bright Day commented.

“It’s actually a lot easier to show you rather than tell you, but we’ll have to make it once we’re back in Canterlot since that’s where they’ll be enough space to do this.” The Rune Slayer added on to what he originally said.

The two summoners nodded before Cassie turned to look out the window while Mira went back to looking at the crystal. She continued to focus on it for the rest of the train ride to the point that when the train did stop, she didn’t even seem to notice personally until the train moved to a complete stop and almost threw her onto Nicko in the process, hitting him on the forehead.

“O-oww…” Nicko groaned, rubbing his forehead. “That’s going to leave me with a headache… no pun intended.”

"Oh geez, I’m so sorry!” Mira gasped, only for Nicko to wave it off as he got up.

“It’s alright… though, I wouldn’t think of the same thing for Serine. Should one of us go check on her?” He asked.

“I’ll do it.” Cassie said as she walked out of the train. Only when they did arrive at the cargo hold, they saw her fall out with all the other packages that were in the back falling on top of her.

“Who’s idea was it to have her be in the back again?” Nicko asked.

“I think she was the one who wanted to be in the back.” Cassie replied. Which caused Nicko to roll his eyes. He was pretty sure that when she meant that she wanted to sit in the back, she didn’t mean all the way in the back like they assumed. But by the time the Sylph was able to regain her senses and the ponies they rescued soon came off the train, the Rune Slayer soon saw Twilight nearby… with Little Leaf. It looked like the Unicorn was trying to comfort the filly, but when they saw them come back… and the filly saw her friends… tears soon filled her eyes.

“Bright, Star, Shade, you survived!” She cried before the three ran up to where she was and hugged her. Of course, all three of them were happy to see Little Leaf again. But it was Twilight who was surprised that they actually were still able to find some more survivors.

Looking at Cassie and Mira, she then asked them the question that was on her mind. “How did you find more survivors? I thought that based on the guards reports that Little Leaf and Bird Seeker were the only ones that made it out of there alive.”

“Apparently these three were in a basement, their parents had them hide in there before….” Cassie said with a sad look towards the foals.

“Oh… I see,” Twilight sighed, looking at them herself before looking back towards them as she noticed Nicko offering a hand to assist Serine. “And just what in Equestria is that?”

“A creature known as a Sylph. They’re thunder type units that can call down a single bolt of lightning on their foes.” Mira replied. “Her name’s Serine.”

“Hunh… Interesting… And just when I thought that was the third strangest thing I had seen all day,” Twilight replied, looking back towards Cassie and Mira. “First being you summoning Nicko… Second being the group that was in town earlier and now this. What a day.”

“Group?! What group?” Cassie asked in shock.

“Well, it consisted of a male and two females. For a moment, when I thought it would be you guys, they turned out to be carrying different weapons, were way different in appearance and referred to Nicko as “The pipsqueak with the attitude problem”. They wanted to see if things were okay after the monster incident and said they were from some… Akras thing.”

“Akras Summoner’s Guild… This got a whole lot more complicated…” Cassie said. She then remembered what they were also there for. “We have something to tell Celestia. We know who ordered that attack on Sun’s Hollow.”

Twilight blinked a couple of times, trying to process what she just said. “O-okay, what?!”

That was when Nicko decided to speak up. “You heard her right. We found out who did it, but that’s something I should leave to you guys. I’ll wait out here with the foals while you guys go on inside.” With that, a nervous Serine flew over and joined them while the Rune Slayer watched over the foals. Both of them were talking for the princess for quite a while, but around thirty minutes later, things have seemed to settled down. Though Serine didn’t look too… happy to say the least.

“How did it go?”

“Well, Serine told us everything she knew…” Twilight first told him before she then spoke up. “And not only are Cassie and Mira living with me, but Serine was told to either stay with us until she could be proven trustworthy to the princess… or get banished to the sun.” The last one caught Nicko by surprise. He had heard of those who got banished to the moon, but how the actual hell would someone survive by being banished to the sun? That’s like the equivalent of the death penalty.

“She may not have been in the actual fighting, but she’s still responsible for killing innocent ponies.” Cassie said, glaring back at the Sylph before tracing her gaze back to him. “What Celestia is have us do is playing watch dog to make sure she doesn't step out of line.”

“Well, if she was really desperate in order to live, then I would think that she would take any offer that gives her a chance to survive without getting hurt,” Nicko replied, before looking at them. “So, I’m going to take a guess that you two got this and don’t need my help anymore?”

They nodded before Mira asked, “Before you leave, can you show us how to make a token?”

“Certainly. Just remember the instructions I told you on the train earlier with the crystal you have on you.” He informed them, pointing out the shard as a reminder.

Mira held up the Battle Crystal while Cassie put her hand on it also. After a minute of thinking of what to say, they spoke with one voice, “To those who are not afraid to see the light and rise like a phoenix to stop those who will harm others, use this crystal to summon us, the Blade Queen and Thunder Phoenix, and a brave new frontier will be opened, but for those who wish us to do harm to others that don’t deserve it, beware…” The crystal then glowed as the two put some of their power in it. Cassie then took her hand off as Mira tossed the crystal up in the air and it vanished in a flash of light. Shortly before one of them dropped into Nicko’s hand.

“That’s step one done… now to send it out into the void.” He replied back to them.

“How exactly do we do that?” Cassie asked. Nicko smiled a little, taking a bit of the energy and magic he had to summon a sword that was different from the other two he had before. This one had a void colored crystal attached to the grip of the blade and with a single slash, tore open a small pocket in the void. Tossing in the crystal for a brief second, both Cassie and Mira looked in shock and wonder as the single token that they had soon began to split apart and multiple in the void before Nicko closed the pocket. Taking out two crystals… one for himself and one for them as he lightly tossed it to them.

“And… done.”

Cassie caught the crystal before looking over at Twilight and bursting into laughter at her shocked expression. The Unicorn’s mouth was nearly touching the ground while her eyes were blankly staring at where the void tear had been.

“If you’re going to ask how that happened, this sword was a gift from another Displaced by the name of Void Edge. It was given to me so that way I can make sure to go to and from my own world safely without getting pulled into another one on accident. I don’t use it for combat like my other two blades since it’s only for transportational purposes.” The Rune Slayer explained, hoping to clear things up as a small tug on Twilight’s jaw caused it to snap back upwards like a window cover… or Genie's mouth in Aladdin. “Uh… is she going to be okay?”

“Of course, silly!” Pinkie said from behind him. “She just gets overwhelmed by new things!” Now Nicko would normally get startled by her just appearing out of nowhere… but given the fact that his brother was in a relationship back with his Pinkie Pie… he was kind of used to it by now. Especially with the random silliness you would normally expect from her. Then again, not everything you would expect from her is normal.

She then pulled a flat rectangular shaped device that both Mira and Cassie recognized as a tablet from earth out of her mane and began tapping at it. “Horsefeathers, I just can't beat this one boss in Trial 03! Curse you Abbadon!” This just made the two even more confused, Twilight even more so.

“Pinkie, what exactly are you talking about?” She asked.

“Oh, just a boss in this game on this tablet Company Master Sebaste lent me.” She replied before stuffing it back in her mane. Twilight sighed, knowing that Pinkie was just being Pinkie. Nicko himself rolled his eyes as well, not even questioning what the mare was talking about because he rather not drive himself crazy.

Serine slowly backed away from the pink mare while Cassie shook her head. ‘I have a feeling I’m gonna be dealing with this mare a lot…’ She thought to herself, sighing deeply and regaining her composure. “I’m sure we’ve held you up long enough Nicko. It… It was nice meeting you.” She said, giving him a small smile. “I hope we’ll see each other again sometime.”

“Same here, feel free to call on me if you need help with anything,” He told her, shortly before using Void Edge once again to open a doorway home before having it close behind him.

Twilight then looked over at Cassie, Mira and Serine. “Let’s get these four to Bird Seeker and then head to Ponyville. I think we had enough craziness for one day-.”

“Hey look! It’s those two rookies we ran into earlier!!”

Cassie sighed. ‘I have a feeling that this world is gonna be full of surprises after 10,000 years…” She thought as she saw Seria, Karl and a new figure with them, giving them a wave.

“Oh hey look, it’s that goddess NPC lady!” Pinkie Pie cheered, bouncing in place and causing Mira to facepalm herself in response to what she said.

Twilight shook her head before saying, “You’ll get used to this. Let’s go.” She then began walking towards where Bird Seeker lived, the four foals and the other three following her. Mira looked up into the sky and thought, ‘I wonder what other displaced are out there… And who we’ll meet…’ before she sighed and walked on… to an unknown future.

By the time that Nicko had returned back to his world, not much had changed from the looks of it. He was back in his original place from where he was before and it did not seem like there was anything unusual going on since he left. But there was no time for him to just stand around. He had to keep moving.

For his friends… his family… and most importantly, for his home.

End Log 30

Log 31- You have an Army? We have Amy

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Of Magic and Machines- You have an army? We have Amy

Edge of the Everfree

Shortly after returning from the realm of Mira and Cassie, Nicko immediately pushed himself forward to get through the Everfree Forest. He did not know how much time he had been gone for since being summoned, but now the sun was beginning to rise in the distance and he remembered leaving shortly before sundown just yesterday. It meant that several hours had passed… and that was time he could’ve used. However, nonetheless, he was making progress. It was expected for him to take about a day to reach the other side of the Everfree Forest, yet he was getting closer to the end of the woods… in half that time.

By the time he had reached the outside edge, where the forest bordered the rest of the land below, he heard a loud blast go off in the distance to see a huge beam of energy in the distance close to the mountain range where Canterlot would reside. He had felt that kind of energy and power before… and that was from Faith. If she was there, then he hoped that she was okay and not hurt. The Rune Slayer knew that his daughter was in the Crystal Empire, yet he did not know if she was still there now or what was the current state of the Empire. Still, he needed to press on… Not just for his sake, but for the sake of those he called his friends and his family.

At one point, he stopped running. Only to look out in the distance to see something flicker for a small bit as he used some chaos magic to conjure a pair of binoculars. Adjusting them in his hands, he happened to see a whole battalion of demons that wore black armor with some dark sapphire tints in their armor, eyes and horns. Whatever they were doing out there was something that could possibly be a concern for Nicko since they could be heading in the same direction he was going. And if things kept going like this, they were bound to run into each other.

The Rune Slayer needed to think through how he should approach the current situation. There were a couple of scouts, two berserkers and also one that particular demon that looked to be in charge of the small group of five. Still, charging in recklessly would be suicide and would more likely get himself killed if he wasn’t careful. So instead, he needed to be able to find a way to approach this from a tactical perspective. Of course, with the Chaos magic that Eris gave him, he could easily just whip out a rocket launcher and blow everything to smithereens… though, where is the fun in that?

When it always came to combat, Nicko preferred to not always resort to the quickest way of eliminating every one of his opponents in one shot. In fact, he found it fun in order to engage in opponents that could fight back. But for a big group such as this one, it would be the more reasonable choice to split the massive force into two smaller groups in order to take care of them one at a time rather than all at once. Finding a stone by his feet, the spellsword used some of his magic to place a rune on the stone before having it thrown several feet away.

As it landed, the demon that looked to be in charge of the small group heard the stone land somewhere nearby before turning to some of his comrades. “You two, check where that sound came from. If we’re lucky and find that chaser, the twins will reward us.” When the Rune Slayer heard that, two things went through his head. The first thing was if they were talking about Arma, the Deadly Chaser that he and Faith had encountered before. The second was the mentioning of these… twins. Were they some high ranking demon? A pair of commanders possibly?

That was something he needed to ask. Fortunately, luck was on his side as the two scouts that were inspecting the stone he threw called over the two berserkers to come have a look at it and see if they could make any sense of it. Leaving the leader of the small party all by himself. Quietly, he had himself approach the lone demon and once he was close enough, snapped his finger as the stone he threw exploded, taking out the other demons as he forced the leader of the small party onto his knees.

“What the-?!” The demon snapped, shortly before being restrained by the Rune Slayer’s magic as Nicko summoned one of his blades and pointed the tip of the weapon at the lone hellion’s chin.

“I’m sorry for the rather… rude interruption, but I believe you happen to have a few answers to some questions I might have,” The Rune Slayer replied with a cocky grin as he looked back at the angry hellspawn. “I don’t have all day… so either tell me and I can make your end quick, or I can make things a little more… painful.” At the end of his sentence, the restraints around the demon began to burn into the monster’s dark skin as it grit his teeth and growled a little in response.

“Grr… You little rat! When I get my hands on you, I’ll-!” That comment from the captive made Nicko’s blood boil, swinging his blade only once as it cleanly cut off the demon’s right hand as it dropped to the ground. “ARGH! Why you-!?”

“Let me give you a piece of advice…” When the demon looked back at the Rune Slayer, it saw pure anger in his eyes as his magic began to form all around him. “If you want the pain to stop, I would recommend choosing your next words carefully.” Seeing the magic around him caused the fiend to change it’s tone as it begrudgingly looked back at the spellsword and grit his teeth in disgust.

“What… do you want?” He grumbled in disgust as Nicko calmed down just a little, looking back at his captive with a small grin on his face as he placed his sword on his shoulders.

“Listening now, are we?” Nicko asked as he took in a deep breath. “Alright… First order of business… you mention to your colleagues something about a chaser. Why are you so desperate on finding whoever this person is?”

“Why are you so eager to find a damned traitor-?” The hellspawn growled at him, before cringing a little more due to the pain he felt all around him. “Gah! Alright, fine! That human with the hood who was suppose to be helping us betrayed Lord Scar the moment he found out that he was using him as a pawn.”

“Now hold on a second,” The Rune Slayer interjected. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t your leader known as Lord Ran? I don’t remember there being a Lord Scar last time I heard about the demons.” All the demon did was laugh a little as he looked back at him.

“Hah… He doesn’t go by that old title anymore. When being freed from Tartarus, he was rather… impatient and decided to take matters into his own hands. In doing so, the magic that was keeping him there burned his skin and deformed his body. He would never be able to recover from them-.”

“I just asked for an answer, not a complex origin story,” The Rune Slayer deadpanned. “Keep it simple. I still have other questions to ask.” The hellspawn growled in response before looking back at Nicko in disgust.

“He’s no longer Ran… yet someone more powerful after breaking himself free. Someone you can’t take on alone.” He simplified things for the Rune Slayer, looking back at him as he continued to speak. “The Chaser tried and now is mortally wounded. He won’t last long at this rate. Probably die within the next few hours.” This was definitely important. If Nicko could find whoever it was, he can find a way to help them before they bleed to death. Yet… he still had more questions to ask.

“Next question… Who are the Twins?” His second question had the demon raise an eyebrow, but also caused his eyes to widen.

“What are you, stupid-!?” The response to that was a punch in the face that almost broke the hellion’s jaw as he shook his head and grumbled a little to himself. “Okay, fine… The Twins are the two highest ranking demons in our entire army. They take orders directly from Lord Scar himself and also serve as his commanders to the rest of the lower ranking demons like me. They were the ones who also had tricked the Chaser into fighting for our cause before he learned that we were deceiving him.”

“So there his right hand man?”

“What?”

“Human phrase,” Nicko stated briefly, explaining a bit to him in the process. “It’s a way to say that someone trusts them the most.”

“Pfft, more or less,” He growled. “Those two had planned his return since that Diabolic Esper was destroyed seven years ago. They saw the skill and power bestowed upon humans like you when they end up here and needed to convince one of them to do their bidding in order to release their Lord from his prison since it was too much of a risk for them to do themselves. They had strength, but anytime they used it, it would draw attention to themselves.” Now that made a lot of sense. By using and manipulating the Chaser to do what they wanted, these twins would not draw attention to themselves. Meaning they could have him get all that they needed, including information on them, without having to get their hands dirty.

Now that only left one last thing. “Okay, final question-.”

“Someone fat get in my way!” The voice was one that Nicko was all too familiar with… and it belonged to someone that just happen to land on the same demon that he was trying to interrogate. Which, upon landing, caused a cloud of dust to drift up along with killing the hellspawn he was trying to interrogate.

“Well… nice of you to drop in… but did you have to do it on the demon I was interrogating?” He asked honestly, looking back at the Crimson Avenger with a deadpan expression.

“Um…..whoops? My bad.” Amy said as she pulled herself off of the demon. “Sorry buddy.” Nicko sighed a little as he looked back at his friend. He did expect for her to come by after having that talk with Selena.

“It’s alright… I was able to find out some things. Though, I wasn’t able to find out where these guys set up their base of operations.” He sighed a little, looking back at the broken body of the demon he was interrogating as it turned into a cloud of black dust. Then, he remembered something important that he did say before Amy’s… dynamic entry. “There may be someone who does know though… but from what our… ‘informant’ told me before being blown up into pieces, the person we're looking for is mortally wounded and may bleed to death if we don’t reach them in time.”

“I can track him down if you want me to?”

That thought alone… caught Nicko off guard. Big time. “Wait… you can do that?” He asked Amy, still a little shocked at what she just said and also trying to wrap his head around it.

“Well yeah. I mean I can control blood magic remember? So it would be obvious enough that I can track someone down via blood.” She replied, conjuring some of the magic she was talking about in an outstretched hand. It did make sense… and it was also quite a relief given the circumstances.

“Wow… I honestly had no idea you were able to do that.” He admitted, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Well maybe next time you should ask me about what I can do.”

“I would’ve, but I didn’t want to assume.” The Rune Slayer sighed as he let the Crimson Avenger’s magic begin to work. Letting her focus so she could find out who or where this person would be… and hopefully find them fast.

“......Okay, I got the location of where he is.” She said after a short while before walking in the same direction, with Nicko following her shortly afterwards. The spellsword allowed her to guide the two of them over there since she had the tracker on the one the demons were chasing. Yet, as they got closer, both of them were soon equally surprised by who the demons were hunting after. “Oh you gotta be f*cking kidding me!?”

It was Arma. Also known as the Deadly Chaser that not only had fought against Nicko’s niece, Faith, but also the same jackass that took away Amy’s father before anyone had the chance of resealing him away again. Yet this time, he was in very bad shape. Deep stab wounds that had gone through two vital spots and he seemed to have been bleeding non-stop over a long period of time. “Y-you two?” He coughed, originally wanting to pull out his weapons, but didn’t have the strength to do so. “W-what do you w-want…? C-can’t you see that I-i’m… well… dying?”

“That was kind of obvious. If your wounds didn’t show it, then the amount of blood you lost did.” The Spellsword grimaced, not expecting to see Arma’s face again. “The hell messed you up so bad?”

“That d-demon b-bastard that tricked m-me,” Arma groaned in pain. “I w-was a fool to think that I-i could kill him… E-especially in the s-state he’s in…” The Deadly Chaser definitely looked like a real mess from what he was trying to say. “H-he lied to m-me that if I-i did what he w-wanted, I c-could k-know what happened to m-my sister… W-whole damn t-thing was a lie from the s-start.”

“To be honest, I’m not surprise that he would do something like this. Happen to me once when I was a kid when I wanted to go to public school.” Nicko for a moment, raised an eyebrow in confusion. How was what Amy was saying suppose to relate to this right now? “Oh and if you’re wonder how this relates, he whipped my ass with a belt for 24 hours when he said he’d do this, but didn’t let me go to public school to meet new friends.”

Sighing a little, The Rune Slayer then turned back to the chaser, trying to get the subject back on track. “Okay… Arma, can you tell me where the demons have their base of operations set up? We’re planning on making sure that demonic jackass gets what he deserves.” For a moment, it looked like the chaser was smiling a bit. He was unsure if the smile was a hint for some sort of trap, but… that was not the case.

“B-badlands… had their fortress be e-encased in the side of where a volcano is. Smoke from the v-volcano hides it out of sight, making it h-hard for anyone by air or ground to f-find it.” They both soon noticed him slide something out to them as it tapped against the side of their feet. To their surprise, it was the Chaser’s dual pistols. “T-take it… Y-you may f-find a b-better purpose for them.” On one hand, Nicko was grateful for him helping them… on the other hand, he was wondering if it was actually a good idea to let Amy use a handgun. Especially with the amount of collateral damage that she was capable of causing.

“Huh, been a while since I used a handgun.” That immediately had Nicko think of a new question inside his head. That being when exactly was the last time she used one… and if her using one now would be any different than before. Picking it up off of the ground, Nicko holstered it in his coat pocket before looking back at Arma to thank him for all his help.

“Thank you… we very much appreciate what you’ve done to help us out,” Nicko replied to him. “We’ll make sure those bastards pay. For everyone they have hurt… and everything they’ve done.”

“If it’s any consolation, I’m sorry for what my asshole of a father did to you.” The Crimson Avenger told him, making Nicko a little bit surprised by that. He honestly thought that she wouldn’t forgive anyone that had either help or assisted her father. But this… was surprising to him.

“T-thank you…” Arma replied, noticing a small light around him as he began to fade away. “J-just… wake me up w-when I’m not in E-equus anymore…” With that, he soon disappeared in a massive flash of light, leaving only Amy and Nicko by themselves.

“So… ready to knock off some demon heads?” Nicko asked her as he turned to face the Crimson Avenger next to her. Making sure his weapon was sharp and ready for the demon slaying that both of them were going to embark on.

“You know I’m always ready to do stuff like this.” She said with a evil grin on her face. Which, strangely enough, was the kind of look he wanted to see from Amy right around now. They now knew where the demons were and were now outfitted with more tools of the trade for demon killing.

“Alright… Let’s get going… Time for the fun to begin,” He smirked, looking back at her before beginning to walk away. Until he stopped, let Amy catch up and added something to what he said. “The bloody fun, of course.”

“Oh I’m going to enjoy this~.” Amy smirked maliciously. That was something that they both would definitely agree on. There was only one question though that remained inside Nicko’s head as he looked back at his ally and friend.

And that question… was how exactly were they suppose to get there in the first place?

Few hours later

After originally setting off, both the Rune Slayer and the Crimson Avenger were now on a ledge overlooking the exact volcano in the badlands that was the stronghold of the demons and the center of their operations. However, despite Amy frequently insisting that they should just storm through the gates, Nicko saw a couple of problems with that strategy. First, the smoke from the volcano would make it impossible to see the closer you are to where the entrance would be. In addition, there was also the possibility that they might’ve hidden a lot of defenses in the smoke. Something he thought of when he watched a bird fly by… only to get shot by a cannonball.

It didn’t help any that Amy had decided to name the bird Mr. Tweetums.

At one particular point though, Nicko found something that not only seemed to be… useful, but also brought back a bit of flashbacks to when he first met Amy a long time ago. A set of train tracks that lead into the side of the mountain. Something that was definitely useful and meant that they did not have to go through the smoke and ash that was as thick as fog. “Hey Amy… I think I found our way inside.”

“Really? Because so far I can’t seem to find one myself.” She said, just as Nicko handed to her a set of binoculars he had conjured earlier and pointed down below towards the set of tracks that was on the ground.

“Down there are train tracks. They’re probably using this to carry resources and such for everything they have here.” The Rune Slayer pointed out to her. “If we can find ourselves a train to sneak onboard, we can find our way inside… and once inside, you’re free to raise as much hell as you want.”

“Oh this is going to be a perfect day for me to unleash hell.”

“Eris recommended for me to try and make it up to you since she told me that you felt ripped off after not being able to kill Eric yourself,” The spellsword sighed as he stretched out his shoulders. “This time though, when we find this guy… you’re free to cut off his head.”

“… Oh, this is going to be one hell of a showdown.” The Crimson Avenger smiled, eager for the carnage that was about to begin soon. Shortly after saying that though, both of them heard the sound of an oncoming train that was moving along the tracks. Which in turn gave them the opportunity to hop on without drawing any attention. That and also making sure to eliminate any demon onboard that could raise any sort of alarm and tip off the rest of the army of their presence.

Shortly though, the train made it’s way inside the volcano. Which was odd because from what Arma told them, the demons had established their base of operations alongside the volcano. But what they found inside was rather… surprising. The inside of the volcano was hollowed out to the point that the enemy was actually able to set up a town inside where Scar’s soldiers can take up residence until they were needed. Now though, as the train was coming to a halt, one of the two demons that was standing guard turned to their partner shortly afterwards and asked them a question.

“Hey… Isn’t there usually a conductor that says something right now or-?” That was the perfect opportunity to start some mayhem. Especially with Amy being quite eager to knock some heads… and have all hell break loose the moment she barreled forth from the game.

“Knock KNOCK, BITCHES!!! OPEN UP!!”

End Log 31

Log 32- Live Free or Let Me Die

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Of Magic and Machines- Live Free or Let Me Die

The second that they made their ‘grand entrance’, both Amy and Nicko got a rather warm welcome from the demons that were camping out around the fortress as they came at the pair of them in a massive onslaught. Forcing the two of them to go on the offensive just to even make it farther through the complex. At some points, they even were able to get farther into the caverns and see how their opponents were able to quickly turn this former town into a suitable base of operations for their forces and their cause.

However… it wasn’t entirely too impressive to Amy once she got a look at everything from a high enough view. “So this is where these demons are hiding out… Wow, talk about the grand central station of disappointment here. I honestly expected more.” The Crimson Avenger groaned, sounding rather bored by the time they were reaching a plateau that was halfway across the map and also halfway over to where the General of the Demons was. Nicko himself was thinking the same thing… but from a different context as he looked back at Amy.

“You would think that if Celestia and Artemis were so focused on trying to keep everypony safe that they would notice something like this form right under their noses.” The Rune Slayer spoke up. “Then again, all of this occurred because of outside help… and because of how Arma was used by them. At least we’re here to end it now.”

“Yeah… that and also settling a score with my father. I know that bastard is here somewhere and I’m not going back to Rainbow and the others until I make sure that he’s dealt with.” Amy growled for a moment… which in turn, caused Nicko to look back at her in confusion. Especially when it came to the mentioning of Solomon Grundy. The same guy who Sparkler just happened to accidently unthaw from his frozen state in an ice burner experiment gone wrong.

“I thought that guy couldn’t be killed.” He spoke up, looking back as Amy sighed for a moment.

“He can’t… but it does not stop me from trying to either put him back in ice, have him be petrified or thrown into a volcano… the last one sounds more enjoyable.” Nicko’s only response originally was a facepalm as he groaned for a moment before looking back at his companion. The only upside to all of this is that at least she had her priorities figured out for how to deal with that issue. However, what remains to be seen is how she was going to do everything else. “Other then that, we’ll just wing it with everything else.”

That did not help solve any problems… or relieve any of the annoying irritation that Nicko was feeling right now. He could not honestly believe that Amy was acting this way on a matter so serious… then again, this was Amy he was thinking about. How she normally solves problems can range on a variety of different levels… and all of them can somewhat irritate him to an almost intolerable level.

This factor still happened to continue on for a while, but as they were continuing to advance, he then noticed something rather… off. When they reached a courtyard clearing, the only thing that they could actually see looked like a floating sphere of dark blue energy. Demonic in nature, but it did not have any kind of physical form.

“Really now? Do they honestly think that something that pathetic would stop us-” Before Amy could finish what she was trying to say and have her sword go through it, the orb itself gave off a black pulse of demonic power as it summoned numerous different monsters in front of them. However, unlike the demons they first encountered on the way too here, these ones were much different. The armor that some of them had previously worn looked rather… eroded and seemed much stronger in appearance as they fought the group. Taking a bit longer in order for them to be defeated.

“Okay, who decided to strengthen the minions?” Nicko asked. “They’re either wanting to tire us out… or they’re getting really desperate right around now.”

“No sh*t, Sherlock,” The Crimson Avenger rolled her eyes, looking rather unimpressed right now. “You would think that some enemies would know that sending grunts to hold us off would not put up much of a fight. Hell, I didn’t even break a sweat from them.”

“Then maybe perhaps we can put up more of a challenge for you then,” Both of them heard a voice echo around the courtyard as two new figures now appeared on the battlefield. Both of them being demons, one male and female, and they were walking onto the battlefield and ready to face them. “We’ve been expecting your arrival… though, we did not think that it would come off as… dramatic as your grand entrance.”

“Who’s the chick in the armored bikini?” Amy then abruptly asked, testing and also slightly damaging Nicko’s calm as she tilted her head a bit. “Matter of fact, who the hell are you two anyway?”

Yet, despite what the Crimson Avenger said, her companion had something rather different to say about these two. “You must be the Twins… Two of the most trusted commanders amongst the demons other than the leader of your rag tag band of misfits.”

“You’re correct… but ‘rag tag band of misfits’ seems more like your group rather than ours.” The male chuckled before having a floating sphere surround his hand. “We know that both of you have your reasons for invading a place like this… unfortunately though, we can’t have you proceed any further.”

“Oh, what are you going to do, call the person who can try and stop me?” Amy brashly smirked as she glared back at the two of them. “What’s that pony’s name… Michael Mc’ Doesn’t exist?” Again, this really tested Nicko’s calm once more because of how much his friend and companion was not taking this seriously.

But all that did was just make one of the twins chuckle as the other one pulled out what looked like a pair of swords and looked back at them. “Cute… but if you honestly think your going to win this battle with words, then prepare to be proven wrong.”

“Oh really now? Is that a-” Before Amy could fully finish her sentence, she was cut off when the demon’s blades began to extend, almost striking amy from a far distance and revealing to both of them that those swords were actually a pair of blade whips capable at striking them from a far distance.

“We and In and Jin… and if you don’t take this seriously, it won’t exactly turn out well for either of you.” The female and male demon spoke in sync as they began their attack. Rushing at Nicko and Amy as both of them were caught off guard by the demon’s pre-emptive strike. It split the two of them up to where Amy had to fight Jin and Nicko had to fight In, and both of them had no idea what either of the twins were capable of or what they could do for their weapons.

For Amy’s opponent, her swords not only were used as a form of blade whips, but also were used to defend herself by slashing her weapons in a circular disk around her. Which proved troublesome because no matter how many times Amy tried attacking her opponent from another angle, she was met with steel blades. And the more times the two of them clashed, the more pissed off Amy was becoming.

As for Nicko, his opponent was a bit trickier in order to figure out. Mainly because his weapon was much more… out of the ordinary. When he tried to backtrack so his opponent could not be able to hit him, the orb was able to slowly pull him towards it before exploding outward. Almost like his newly acquired Triple Saber ability. Not to mention that In was also able to charge up the attacks power before sending it forward and having it detonate the energy that he originally had charged up. Which left it as a bit of a problem because unlike other opponents that Nicko had faced before, he had no idea where the demons weapon would be when attacking him.

And it left Nicko with two options. A, keep on dodging the attacks and try to find an opening for him in order to attack his opponent… or B, use these attacks to his advantage and make that opening himself. Of course, choice A seemed like the most likely of the two… but the longer that the fight drew out, the more that Nicko was able to read his opponent’s attack patterns. And strangely enough, besides those two… In had no other tricks up his sleeves to use in a fight. While the Rune Slayer had many.

Meaning that with one small slip up, the tide of battle could change. And Nicko got his chance when In charged up his orb to attack and threw it behind the Rune Slayer. The moment it detonated though was when Nicko dashed at his opponent by placing two of the runes he would use for his ‘Splash Explosion’ skill at the bottom of his feet. Allowing him to reach the demon before it’s weapon could come back to him as Nicko struck him dead center in the face. Shortly before kicking him over to where Amy’s opponent was and simultaneously breaking her concentration.

“Well then, let’s go ahead and test out these new powers then,” The Crimson Avenger devilishly smirked as she began to charge up some of her blood magic and release it right between where the Twins were. “Shade!!” Both demons were caught in the middle of the dark energy storm and struck repeatedly by the attack. Much to Amy’s liking. “Oh, I’m sooooo going to enjoy using what other new powers I have.”

Yet, for both of their opponents, that attack did not then just throw them off guard. “Damn… That girl wasn’t suppose to have that kind of power on hand! We need to warn the General.”

“Oh, you’re not going anywhere! I’m finishing this fight now!” Before the Rune Slayer could do anything to act on it, Amy did something that… actually threw him off guard. She stepped in between and prevented him from giving chase.

“Oh? What are you doing?” The Crimson Avenger questioned him, while simultaneously throwing Nicko into bit of a loop while getting him even more frustrated with her.

“What am I doing!?”

“Thwarting my plans!?”

“Thwarting your plans!!?”

“ARE! YOU!?!” That last statement pushed Nicko way over the edge. It was then that he began to see that Amy was treating this more like a game rather than something that she should take rather seriously. And it was something that he could not deal with at the time.

“...... You know what, YES!!!” With his magic coursing around his arm, he set off a powerful runic blast that sent Amy flying back to where they first arrived at. Crashing with a loud THUD as Nicko then turned around and began to walk away. If this were something that needed to be done, then they need to take it seriously and not fool around. Treating this like a game is going to get them killed and lose their home.

And that was something that he was not going to let happen.

Meanwhile…

“Sir, we have a problem.” Those five words from that of his commanders did not settle well with Scar, the demon that had planned this invasion and was planning his schemes in this complex. Matter of fact, the demon general himself despised setbacks. However, there was something about this one that did not surprise him. “We have an intruder.”

“And I am to assume that you are coming to me to ask for permission to use force?” He questioned his twin commanders, but found himself surprised when both of them were shaking their heads in response. “Then if that’s not the reason for your disturbance at this hour, then explain now-.”

“We already attempted to stop the intruder, but they weren’t alone,” The commander known as Jin began to explain. “Both of them have power and strength beyond that of ours and can almost rival yours in comparison. It’s the Rune Slayer and the Crimson Avenger.”

“So they decide to come for me directly rather than fight on through the front lines,” He asked for clarification. It was a bold risk to do that. Especially with the countermeasures they had set up if someone were to try to barge on through with brute force. “That’s rather bold of them.”

“General, what are your orders?” The second commander, In, asked. “If you want us to deploy countermeasures against them-”

“That would not be necessary… Especially with how close we are to our goals…” The General interjected, before telling them something. “Tell Grundy that his daughter had decided to pay a visit. After that, focus your efforts onto harvesting the demonic energy here.”

“What about you sir?” The twin’s question was answered the moment that Scar removed his blade from where he originally had it in the ground and carried it alongside him.

“I’ll see to the other intruder myself.”

Elsewhere…

Shortly after feeling herself being thrown several meters away and crashing down at almost the exact point in which they started at, Amy found herself lying on the ground as she began to wipe the dust off of her clothes and have a chance to catch her breath. “Hah… this a new feeling… pride in someone else.”

Taking a moment to wipe her hand across her face and see the small amount of blood that was on her hands, the Crimson Avenger made a fist as her power began to course through her. “Unfortunately, it’s being overshadowed by all this UNYIELDING RAGE!!!” Immediately after shouting that was when she took off, charging back towards where she knew Nicko would be. Because she was definitely going to get him back for this.

By the time Nicko had finally reached the gates of the demonic chasm, he was at the point to which he wanted to throw all form of caution to the wind and finally face the one responsible for all the chaos and calamity that he had been causing. With his defeat, the war against the demons can finally end… and no one would have to worry about them rampaging across their home.

As he slowly approached the main hallway leading inside, he became rather cautious. Making sure that nothing would try to get him from behind as a surprise attack. Although, despite being able to feel the presence of other people or beings within a certain radius of him, the Rune Slayer could only feel one particular presence just ahead. This one being the one that had been guiding him to this spot the entire time.

The closer he was to the main chamber, the more that the hair on the back of his neck began to stand up. It wouldn’t be much farther now until he found the one known as ‘Lord Scar’ and when he did, Nicko was expecting a fight. However… one thing that he could not predict was that once he took another step forward, a bright flash of light went off. Teleporting him to a wide open cauldron with a view of the volcano’s core nearby as the sound of the door behind him slamming firmly shut. “Well, that’s reassuring.”

“To come here realizing that right now is a grave mistake on your part.” He heard a dark, yet almost familiar voice echo the room as the sound of footsteps clawing against the floor could be heard from behind Nicko. Originally, he thought that the demon was going to walk on in and then do some monologuing or something along those lines. Only for when he turned around to realize that his opponent had already begun to go after him by not only having blue demonic fire spread across the floor rapidly, but for Scar to teleport above him to try and strike Nicko from above while he was paying attention to the flames.

Which, put Nicko in a very tough position. With how big his opponent’s weapon was, trying to block or parry it would evidently damage his own weapon. So, he was forced to backpedal out of the way of the flames and then dash to the side as he narrowly missed his opponent’s blade. Despite his opponent's size, he was rather fast and also powerful given the shockwave that was released when his blade struck the ground.

“Hunh… rather quick aren’t you… good.” Scar growled, looking back at him with a grin. From what Nicko could tell, all former emotions that this guy must’ve had at one point had been substituted with anger, hatred and rage. But that was what it looked like on the outside. “This’ll be much more of an entertaining battle than that of your comrade’s”

Stopping for a second, Nicko looked back at the demon and grit his teeth for a moment. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The way in which you entered my domain here doesn’t exactly have others come the same way. Anyone else who attempts to enter this chasm through the same means you did will be transported elsewhere in the vicinity,” He remarked. “Besides… Someone here wanted to have the chance to have a little… family reunion with her.”

“Oh sh*t… Grundy.” The Rune Slayer realized as he looked all around him. “I really hope that Amy can be able to handle herself right now… Who am I kidding? She’s probably got things under control.”

“AGH!!! MY RAGE HAS BLINDED ME!!!”

“Yup, definitely under control… Though, I did promise to let her get the killing blow on this guy, so I better keep my promise.” He thought to himself as he looked back at the demon farther down the room as he now had his weapon at the ready along with his magic. Preparing himself for imminent combat.

“Eager for a fight now, are we?” Scar grinned, donning his own weapon as he looked back at Nicko. Though, no matter how many times that he looked back at the demon general, something really didn’t make sense. Now though… was when he decided to actually say something about it.

“You know exactly what I don’t get…” The Rune Slayer then asked as he looked back at Scar. “You launched an invasion against Equestria, wanting revenge. I get that part… but it feels as if there’s something else that you are planning alongside this campaign of yours. So what the hell is it?” That… actually got Scar to grin a little as he looked back at Nicko. Actually laughing a small bit as he looked back at him, which made the spellsword slightly uncomfortable.

“Heh… Out of all the humans that had arrived in this world, I always thought you would be slightly more observant than the others.” The demon replied, before extending an open hand and gripping it, which caused several dark blue orbs to appear. “This is more than a fortress for our operations. It’s the heart of our power. Our army can’t truly fall as long as this stands firm… and I will not let you or your friend destroy this place!!” That, caused the orbs floating around Scar to turn into demonic energy that began to flow around him as the amount of pressure from that caused Nicko to almost lose his footing.

“Holy-!! This guys strength knows no bounds!!!” He thought to himself, dodging the next attack from his opponent in the process. “How the hell am I going to fight this guy on my own if Amy is stuck with fighting Grundy? My attacks won’t affect him as long as that demon heart's still beating.” There were a couple of times where he did attempt to attack Scar, whether it was by using one of his spells or his sword, but both were rather ineffective. And to make it worse, whatever damage he did inflict just healed themselves up a few moments later.

“Come on now! I expected MUCH more from you!!” Scar taunted as he attacked a few more times, one of them striking Nicko along the chest as he skid backwards. “Don’t you DARE hold yourself back against me!!”

“How the hell am I going to be able to fight you if I can’t even hurt you!?” Nicko shouted mentally inside his head as be began to try and think of a way in order to fight back. However… what he did not expect was to hear something like a microphone being tapped going off inside his head, followed by somepony else actually speaking up.

“H-hello? Is this thing on? Eris, does the red light mean that this is on?” That voice was one that Nicko definitely recognized, shortly before hearing the same voice speak up again a few seconds later. “Alright, it’s on. Nicko, can you hear me?”

“M-moondancer?” Nicko asked mentally while also paying attention to everything going on around him. “H-how-? You know what… I’m going to assume Eris played a part in this?”

“Sort of… Remember when you met that one vampire guy about a month or so ago and Eris used that Crystal Ball contraption in order to have us see what you see?” That Nicko definitely did remember. Especially when that occurred around the same time he met Dio Brando. “Well, think that, but Eris modified it so it could allow for us to communicate. Are you alright?”

“For the most part… we were doing fine until Amy got a bit headstrong, we split up to cover more ground and now I’m stuck fighting the leader of the demons while Amy’s stuck with having to handle her father.” Nicko explained briefly as he held up his sword in defense to block an incoming attack. “Not to mention that this guy I’m fighting is not exactly playing fair.”

There was a brief pause from Moondancer for a moment as Nicko heard a few murmurs in the background. “Nicko, what do you mean by these guys not playing fair?”

“You know how someponies would describe this as the ‘heart of enemy territory’? Think that, but a little too literally,” The Spellsword briefly explained. “There’s a demonic heart in the center of this place that’s making the demons much more powerful than normal. Not to mention it makes their leader unkillable. With me occupied with him and Amy being forced to fight her father, niether of us can get to the heart of the fortress and take it out.” That was followed by Nicko using his Splash Explosion skill in order to push his opponent back.

“So are you saying that you need backup?” Moondancer then replied shortly afterwards.

“What? No! No, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is that it’s difficult trying to handle things on my own when I can’t reach Amy. She and I were suppose to take this guy on as a two man team, but with her and I being separate, it’s making this whole thing harder.” He fully explained to her while clashing swords again. When he was forced down on one knee, the Rune Slayer had no choice but to unholster the pistol that Arma had gave him and shoot the demon in the shoulder to really get himself out of a jam. “Where’s Eris right now?”

“Right here, Nicky.” He then heard the draconequus speak up. “I was busy making popcorn for our guests while we watch your battle unfold.”

That… threw Nicko in for a loop as he had to use his sword to deflect and parry some of Scar’s attacks before responding to her. “Hold up… You guys are actually watching us right now? Seriously?!”

“What? How else are we going to be able to help you if we can’t see you?” The draconequus made a rather valid point at that statement as Nicko got the chance to catch his breath. “Now, if you give me a second, we can make this a three way-”

“Wha-?”

“-CALL!! Three way call… Goddess Nicko, you honestly think I would try to go behind your back like that? Anyways, I’ll let Scootaloo talk to her in a moment. Just hang in there.” Eris sighed as the sound of a phone dialing in the background could be heard while Nicko was continuing to fight. Trying to mix in some offensive skills in with his normal attack pattern to catch his opponent by surprise. Skills like Wind Blade, Rising Slash, and also a few minor skills like Fire Rune in order to prevent Scar from giving chase when Nicko needed to back up and get some better ground. After a few seconds, it worked and soon, they could hear Amy.

But what they heard from her was rather unsettling. “When I make sure that I THROW YOUR UGLY ASS IN A BURNING PIT OF LAVA, then we’ll see who’s laughing now you despicable piece of sh-!”

“Amy, what the hell are you doing?” He then heard Rainbow Dash speak up.

“Um… Internal monologuing… matter of fact, how the hell are you-?”

“Eris. Let’s just leave it at that.” The pegasus told the crimson avenger. The two of them began talking as Rainbow and Scootaloo were both trying to catch Amy up to speed on everything, all while Nicko was personally trying to hold his ground. It didn’t take long for Rainbow to try and explain anything… unfortunately though, it didn’t seem like Amy was really paying attention.

“Okay, I think I understand… But just in case… Can you please tell me again? I wasn’t listening.”

Rainbow Dash could only groan in response as she was about to try and explain it again. Only this time for Scootaloo to interject. “Allow me… Amy, the guy responsible for wrecking Umbra’s life along with her fathers and stole your Dark El Shard is right now using an invincibility cheat in order to make himself untouchable.”

“That BASTARD!! How the hell am I going to be able to brutally cleave his jerkass face off now!?!” She mentally roared, leaving Nicko rather shocked and surprised that somehow Scootaloo was able to get Amy to understand the gravity of the situation much faster than Rainbow could.

“Well, from what Nicko told us, there’s suppose to be some kind of heart here in the middle of this volcano that’s empowering Mr. Jerkass and his minions… Only problem is that both you and Nicko are currently busy at the moment.”

In hearing that though… Amy had a different response. “Hold that thought for just a second…” At first, Nicko was unsure what exactly she was talking about… until he looked at a clearing and actually saw Amy proceed to kick her father off the edge of a balcony and into the lava below like Leonidas in 300. “THIS IS EQUESTRIA!!!” It left the spellsword rather caught off guard… much to the fact that the crimson avenger also did not notice that he was on the opposite side of the mountain. “Alright, I’m free now. Had to take a moment to kick my father into some lava… god, that was a good stress reliever.”

“Okay… What the fu-?”

“Oh hey Nicko… Didn’t know you were in this call too…” She then replied, making Nicko want to personally facepalm himself if he were occupied with something else in this present moment. “So, aside from tearing that son of a b*tch’s heart out, what’s the plan?”

“Perhaps I can help on that,” Eris now began to speak up. “Amy, in order for you and Nicko to truly kill this guy, you’re going to need to blast a past WIDE OPEN to where this heart is and destroy it. Once you do that, get back to Nicko and you can finish this fight.”

“Alright, got it… Also, that’s what she said.” That almost had Nicko trip and fall on his face. Even more so with what he heard next from Eris.

“I know that’s what she said! Just GO!!” Now with that out of the way, Nicko could now be able to focus more on the current fight rather than all the side chatter going on inside his head. Of course, he considered filtering it out… but there was the possibility that he could’ve heard something important and did not want to possibly overlook that.

Of course, in doing that, it made him a little less observant as to the attacks that were coming at him. Several in which not only left him with little time to block some of the incoming strikes, but also wide open. “Pathetic!!”

When the Rune Slayer turned at the sound of that, he felt his opponent’s blade strike him across the chest. Tearing through some of his clothes and leaving behind a nasty gash. If he had stayed in place, the demon could’ve cleaved him in two… but because of him trying to move out of the way when the attack had landed, he was spared of that grim possibility.

However, with this new injury came new problems. For one thing, the pain was beyond unbearable. It burned anytime that he tried to move or even attack his opponent, forcing him to where he was on one knee.

“Heh… Not so strong or heroic now, are you?” Scar taunted as he watched the Rune Slayer drop down to one of his knees. “For someone who has the magic of that bastard Starswirl, you are nothing to me… Perhaps I should let you suffer more, though. I’m far from through with you.” Nicko himself had no idea what he was referring too, but he knew that being handicapped like this was not going to help him. He needed to protect and defend himself. Raising his blade to try and shield himself from harm.

Only for the blade that he called ‘Ebalon’ to shatter the moment that Scar’s weapon made impact. “If you were actually as smart as him, you would’ve enchanted your weapons to not wear down so quickly… My blade, along with many other weapons that we demons possess, can cause any weapon or opponent to deteriorate if they don’t have the proper protections… Now, your friend will not be able to save you in time by the time I’m done turning you into a mangled corpse.”

The demon general soon tossed both Nicko and the shattered remains of his weapon against a wall. Crashing into it as Nicko coughed up some blood. He felt as if there wasn’t anything he could do in order to fight back. This guy will break apart all the weapons that he had until he was done tearing him apart… and he was all by himself up here.

Nicko couldn’t take this anymore… He needed to get out there… He needed to fight back. But how could he? How could he be able to do that right now without even having a proper weapon to fight him-?

You don’t need one

Hearing that caused everything to stop all around him… and as he looked around, Nicko began to wonder what the hell was going on. Just as he soon felt a small glow go over him and lightly ease the pain he felt.

“Who… are you?”

Your power and strength draws from the runes, does it not? The voice spoke to him. If that is the case… use them.

“H-how? Rune magic is-”

Incomplete? He heard the speaker interject as he turned around. Oh, it’s far from it… Runes should be allowed to be used for various purposes… yet, I did not want them being abused for selfish desires. They are for helping everypony, not harming them. This person… began to puzzle Nicko for a moment… causing him to ask one rather important question.

“How do you know so much on my magic?”

Oh… but the answer is simple. It’s because I created it… You have my journal after all. That caused Nicko’s heart to almost stop for a moment as he processed what he just heard. You have the means to carry on my life’s work… yet, it is here and now that you are truly being tested to see how much you know.

“Y-you’re… Starswirl…” Nicko gasped for a moment, processing everything he just heard. “B-but how?”

Life is filled with mysteries… Many ponies once asked me why I decided to raise three young sirens back in my day, yet I could not give them a simple answer. The same applies to you, Nicko Nocte. The voice of the Grand Magus spoke to him. But for me I wonder… what made you decide to keep three weapons on hand? Wouldn’t it be much simpler to combine them together?

That… had Nicko blink for a moment as he looked down at the shattered blade on the ground before looking back up. “T-there’s a way to do that? But Ebalon is-!”

Broken in it’s physical form, yes… but not in terms of the power it holds… By using your magic, you can combine the power residing in two of your blades into a single source… and with the power that resides within the blades you call Ebalon and Rovaniik, it’s even possible for them to become much stronger than before. Allow me to assist you. The voice instructed as time slowly began to move again. The Rune Slayer himself finding the strength to stand as he picked up what was left of his broken blade and glared directly at the demon. Who just stopped for a moment… before laughing as he looked back at Nicko.

“Do you honestly believe that you think you can win with your broken blade, kid? Why can’t you just accept your fate already?” The demons words made his blood boil, making Nicko even more determined to go hit him where it hurts as Rovaniik appeared in his hand afterwards.

Now… conjure a rune in your hand and push your weapons into it. He was instructed. At first, Nicko was unsure if something like this was… well, actually reasonable. But he didn’t really have many other options to go off of. So, instead he followed through with what Starswirl told him as he pushed the blades into the rune. From Scar’s perspective, he thought that the Rune Slayer was trying to stab himself… but the influx of power that resulted afterwards meant otherwise.

Especially when the two swords he was holding were soon wrapped around in light and beginning to change shape. Molding itself together to take on the form of one single blade… and as the Rune Slayer pulled it out and the light around it began to die down, the runes around the blade could still be seen engraved from the weapons hilt all the way to the tip of the sword itself as Nicko now glared at the demon general with his newfound weapon in hand.

“You made your last mistake…”

The demon at first, thought this was a tactic of intimidation… and decided to play along with it. “Oh really now? And which one is tha-?” Before he could even react, the Rune Slayer had already appeared right in front of him in the blink of an eye, swinging his blade and striking him two times. The first one actually injuring the demon around his chest, despite the power that the demonic heart provided him… The other strike cutting off one of his horns clean off as it fell to the ground and caused Scar to flinch in pain.

Now the tables were beginning to turn once more… and this time, in their favor. And once Amy finished up with what she was tasked to do, this could finally be a fair fight.

“Hunh… this glowing thing must be important. I’m gonna blow it up.” Shortly after using her powers to destroy what she believed to be what was powering the demons here… and hearing the cries of numerous enemies in extreme pain, the crimson avenger soon declared it a personal victory for herself. “I AM A GENIUS!!!”

Now to get back to Nicko… so the fun can begin. The bloody fun of course.

When Nicko heard something explode from deeper within the volcano and felt the ground shake beneath him, he had a feeling that Amy had found the Demonic heart and tore it apart to bits. That and the painfully enraged expression on Scar’s face as he now readied himself to fight once again. With Scar no longer being invulnerable to his attacks, it was finally possible for the Rune Slayer to actually harm him now. And with it, they now had a fighting chance.

But it was also because of their actions that the demon general was beyond pissed off… and had enough of them ruining his plans. “Grrr… That is IT!!! I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU!! THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR GRAVE!!!”

“Well, at least he’s not invincible now… Hard part will be trying to stop this guy,” Nicko thought to himself as he looked back at his opponent with blade at the ready. “Now… how do I hold this guy off long enough so Amy could be able to come here-”

“Nicko? Oh good, you’re still there. You went quiet for a few minutes.” Nicko was surprised at first to actually hear Amy talking inside his head… but then again, he remembered that Eris had made this possible in the first place, so it wasn’t really anything new.

“Sorry for making all of you worried. I was kind of preoccupied with… well, not trying to die…” Nicko mentally replied as he continued to clash with the demon in front of him. “Do you need any help with trying to find me or-?”

“Nope… I’m already on my way. I’m going to assume that this demonic asshole somehow hurt you?” Amy’s question was right on point as Nicko remembered when this guy had broken his old weapon and wounded him in the process. “I can sense your blood on his big ass sword of his.”

“Guilty as charged. Earlier when I was fighting this guy, he broke one of my swords and struck me… No need to go into long details,” The Rune Slayer mentally replied as he used some of his magic to push back his opponent some more. “Now though, let’s focus on taking this guy down.”

“Need any ideas? Because I have one that might work.”

“So do I, but let me hear yours out first…” Yet, despite trying to be polite to his companion… Amy’s suggestion to Nicko was not entirely one that he would’ve wanted to go for.

“Well… Let me ask you this… Can you get him in a full nelson?”

That made the Rune Slayer just want to facepalm himself as he took a deep breath for a moment to try and clear his thoughts. “…… You do realize that this guy is twice as tall as I am and he’s extremely pissed off at both of us, right?”

“Come on, if David could beat Goliath, then you can get him in a full nelson!”

“That’s not helping my confidence here,” Nicko deadpanned as he looked back at his opponent. “You know what, let’s come up with something once both of us are fighting this guy. I’m just buying time for your grand entrance at this rate.” However, at the last remark, The Rune Slayer did not honestly expect to see what happened next as the Crimson Avenger he was just talking to just burst through a stone wall in order to blindside the demon general he was facing.

“Here’s…… AMY!!!”

“Well… that’s one way of making an entrance.” The Spellsword said to himself. “Glad to see that you could make it.”

“Glad to see that you’re still alive.” Amy grinned a little as she made her way over to where Nicko was standing as the demon general was getting back up on his feet. “Now how are we going to take out this ugly son of a b*tch?”

That, ironically, was what Nicko was trying to figure out. He already had one idea in mind for how to start it off… but the rest was a bit of a work in progress. “Well first, we should focus on disarming him of that sword of his… We can figure out how the rest of the plan afterwards.”

“Just to clarify… when you mean disarm, do you mean literally dismembering his whole arm?” That comment from the Crimson Avenger just had Nicko deadpan a bit as he looked back at her and took a deep breath to try to calm himself a bit.

“I was referring to trying to render him incapable of using his sword,” The Rune Slayer replied, before adding something onto that which made Amy grin in response. “However you wish to accomplish that is all up to you.”

“Alright, good. I was waiting for the chance to make this f*cker pay for messing up Umbra’s life and her family.” She responded to him, getting really excited as the Crimson Avenger stared down the demon. Nicko saw two benefits to this decision to let Amy lash out at Scar. For one thing, it would allow her to not only use up a good portion of rage and deal significant damage to their opponent… but it also allowed for Nicko to try and find any extra weak points that the two of them could exploit and use to their advantage.

Which… wasn’t exactly easy… but all the more reason to do it if it was going to help them win. As they continued to clash with the demon general, both of them noticed a particular series of attacks that Scar was using while they fought him. Other than the teleport slash that he tried to use to catch Nicko by surprise, it also looked like the demon was copying one of his own skills. When the demon would slam his weapon into the ground, pulling it out would spawn a wave of blue flames similar to that of Nicko’s own Sword Fire skill. Other than this though, there wasn’t really anything else that could be seen as a potential problem.

Until… the demon reached his own breaking point. “I have had it with both of you ruining EVERYTHING!!!” He roared, releasing a powerful pulse of demonic energy as it visibly pulsed off of his body. “I WILL MAKE THIS PLACE YOUR GRAVE EVEN IF I HAVE TO BRING YOU DOWN WITH ME!!!” With it, he slammed his sword into the ground and raised both arms above his head as the demon began to channel a powerful amount of magic above him as it grew in size.

Slowly though, Nicko noticed that anything that didn’t have enough weight or wasn’t held properly was being pulled in by the demonic vortex, immediately making him think that something was bad. “Oh sh-!” He didn’t even get the chance for himself to say anything before he started running. Only to realize that Amy wasn’t moving anywhere. “Amy, what the hell are you doing?! You’re going to get pulled in! Run!!”

“Run? Oh no way I’m doing that! This is the exact chance we needed!!” She protested, before Nicko noticed two things. First, Amy called forth what looked like a vision of darkness to surround her and have her power increase. Secondly, there was the fact that she was charging her own magic before letting it loose as it took the form of a spinning buzzsaw of blood magic as she released it by moving her leg in a kicking motion

“Blood CUTTER!!”

It may have been something that Amy gambled on in order to get the upper hand… but to Nicko’s surprise, this gamble actually paid off. For the buzzsaw blade was aimed directly at Scar’s outstretched arms overhead as it cut off the demon’s left arm. Disrupting his concentration as he howled in pain. Giving Nicko the chance to circle around and try to approach the demon from his side.

“Give it up already! We have you overpowered here!” Nicko taunted. Only for their opponent to say a rather… familiar line.

“It is but a scratch!”

“Just a scratch!? Your arms off!!” Amy snapped, looking back at the demon.

“No it isn’t.”

“Then what’s that on the ground then?” The Crimson Avenger pointed at the arm on the ground, before it faded to ash.

“ …… I’ve had worse.”

“You lie!!” At that point, Nicko really wanted to hit his face against a wall as he looked back at the demon. Who actually used his other arm to pick up his weapon off the ground and release a powerful shockwave towards the crimson avenger as both Amy and Nicko got back to focusing on fighting Scar. Now that he had a missing arm, the Rune Slayer focused on trying to expose the demons newfound blindspots in order to take this guy down. Which was a lot trick at first.

Then… he decided to try something Amy would do. Before Scar could try to commence any major attacks or even try to conjure another vortex with his only arm remaining, the Rune Slayer got in from behind and used Enchant Breaker as a way to force the oversized demon onto one of it’s knees. With the other arm outstretched, but cut off from the power it was trying to channel, Amy then took the chance to somersault forward as her weapon became a spinning guillotine as it severed the other arm off of the demon’s body.

“There we are!! Victory is ours-!” Of course, it didn’t help any that Amy’s boasting left her open to getting headbutted by the demon general as she got back up and snarled. “Okay, what the hell is your problem!?”

“I haven’t lost yet!!”

“Both of us were able to overcome your attacks and harm you, you can’t use your powers since you have no arms to channel it from and if there was a way for you to try and do it, it’s two against one,” Nicko then added on, before blocking a kick from the demon general. “Can’t you see that you have lost?”

“Oh really now, little one? I’m not letting myself beat so easily.” They heard him growl a bit before Nicko himself snapped.

“Look, you stupid demonic bastard! You don’t even have arms to fight us! Can’t you see that what the hell you’re doing is pointless?”

“I still have arms.” That just had Nicko and Amy look back at one another in both sheer annoyance and also sheer surprise because of how irritating this guy was being. Even after they severed both his arms, he was still trying to put up a fight.

“Then what the hell is that right there?” Amy then pointed at the demon’s injuries.

“It’s just a flesh wound.”

Again… both Nicko and Amy looked back at one another, before sighing in disbelief. “Okay, I think it’s official… this guy’s nuts.”

“Perhaps we should finally finish this fight for good then.” The Rune Slayer suggested before getting around the demon a lot more quickly than he aniticipated. “Let me knock him up into the air and then you can finish him off.”

“One thing first…” Amy then spoke up… before using the pistol that she recieved from Arma in order to fire a few rounds into Scar’s legs. “I wanted to get the chance to use this at some point… So I thought it would be good to make sure that this asshole doesn’t run off anywhere.” With that, Amy herself holstered her weapon as Nicko decided to prepare himself and charge up his magic for one more powerful skill. There was an ability that he learned with his Transcendance that he had not had the chance to use until now… and now was the best time in order for him to use it.

Grabbing onto his weapon with two hands, he began to pour massive amounts of magic into the blade as it began to take shape. Once it was done… he then let his newfound strength do the rest.

“EXTREME RUNE BUSTER!!!”

The attack sent the demon flying all the way into the air, followed by being struck with a series of elemental runes once airborne. Leaving Amy to gathering all the power she needed for one last attack of her own as all of her power transformed her weapon into a devastating blade of raw power.

“Blood… FALLS!!!”

The attack from the Crimson Avenger was so powerful to the point that when it struck the demon, it cleaved him completely in half. Causing both parts of the demon's body to disintegrate as the only thing that remained was that of the horn that was once on his head. Which, for a moment… made both of them relieved that the fight was over.

Only for Amy to somehow realize a mistake she accidentally made. “Aww, dammit. I meant to cut that guy’s head off. Not decapitate him in half… Now what am I going to use as a prop to scare away any ponies that are trying to sell us insurance?”

That had Nicko cough a bit before looking back at her. “You know… there are still some parts of his broken sword and horn left right?” He said, before looking back at her.

“…… Yeah, whatever works.”

“-Hello? Hello-? Oh finally!! I’m able to sync back up with you two,” They both heard a familiar face speak to them. “That jackass did something that rendered me unable to speak with both of you, even thought you were about to talk to each other. How did it go?”

“Well, we have one less demon general… and also one less army to worry about hopefully,” Nicko replied mentally. “Though, that fight really drained us both. And we still need to get out of here-”

That moment was when both of them not only heard what sounded like something exploding… but also where they felt the ground shake. “Uh… what the hell was that?”Amy then asked, not even bothering to try to think it inside her head since both her and Nicko were thinking the exact same thing. Though… Nicko soon began to notice the real trouble when not only did the room become a lot warmer than it was before… but also saw one detail from the balcony that set off an internal alarm inside his head and immediately got him off the floor.

The lava from the inside of the volcano… was rising. And rapidly. “Oh no… that’s bad.”

“What’s bad?” Amy asked, unaware of what he was seeing.

“Beating Scar made this whole volcano unstable! It’s going to blow any minute!!” Nicko warned her, causing her to quickly jump off the ground and see what he was seeing… only for her to say something else that wasn’t really helping the present situation here.

“May I say that it’s been an honor fighting beside you?”

“Amy!!” Nicko snapped as he looked back at her. “We gotta find a way out of here! There’s no way in hell that I’m dying today-” Just as he said that though was when a loud explosion went off and the rocky ceiling that was above them burst open, letting in the light from outside as they looked up to see the last thing that both of them ever expected.

A flying airship, a rope ladder dangling from it… and Faith hanging on the side of the ladder. “Uncle Nicko!! Are you alright?!”

“Faith!?” Both of them at first almost asked that question in unison, shortly before Nicko asked the next one as they made it towards the ladder. “How the hell did you know we were here!?”

“No time for questions! Just get on so we can pull you out of there!!” The two of them heard another voice as Nicko actually saw Ember on the ledge of the airship. Trying to get the two of them to hurry up so they could get out of there before the volcano would erupt. Both of them had numerous questions that they wanted to ask right now, but decided to actually save it for after they escaped from sudden death.

As they were being pulled out of the mountainside and began to climb up towards the top deck of the ship, Nicko couldn’t help but notice a few different dragons fighting off what remained of the demons before taking to the skies to get away from the raging volcano nearby. It took both him and Amy several minutes in order to get up the ladder and on deck before the ship could steer clear of the volcano and any flaming projectiles that would erupt from it and possibly hit them.

“Alright, that should do it,” Both of them heard a rather familiar voice emerge from the captain's quarters of the ship as he looked back at both the Rune Slayer and Crimson Avenger. “And both of you are still in one piece.”

“Leo?” Nicko asked, dumbfounded a little bit as he looked back at the Reckless Fist before noticing Faith sit not far from him. “First off… Nice ship. On a more serious note though, how in the world did you guys find us? Only Eris, Moondancer, Scootaloo and Selena knew we were out here.” That had Leo look back at Faith for a moment, causing her to sigh briefly for a moment before taking in a deep breath.

“Well, while you guys were taking the fight to them directly, we got help from some of the Displaced back at Beacon to push the enemy out of the Crystal Empire and from around Ponyville, despite dad being rather hesitant to ask for help at first,” Faith explained to both of them. “One of the displaced that came here was someone name the Preserver, who told me that you and Amy were on your way here. Despite Moby and Remy saying that you two would be fine, Leo was concerned about the fact that what you two were doing was pratically suicidal.”

“So you set out to find us and provide support?”

“That and also make sure to get you out of there if that mountain were to blow,” Ember then added. “My forces had arrived in Baltimare and were pushing eastward in order to meet up with Spike in Ponyville. However, when I met your niece and was informed of what you were doing, I decided it would be best for us to both get you out of there safe and sound.”

“And that, I’m thankful for…” Nicko smiled, before turning to Amy. “Anything you want to say, Amy?”

“Yeah, I have something to say…” Amy replied, before glaring at Leo and Faith. “Why the hell are you guys always getting the cool stuff and not me?!” That just had Nicko facepalm himself. He wasn’t really expecting her to actually say that in particular… and it didn’t help any that Leo made the situation a bit worse.

“Technically speaking, only those who are capable of using Nasod Tech can be able to use the Black Crow-.”

“Oh, so Molly gets the chance to chill out and do whatever she wants up here while I’m stuck without a flying death machine to call my own!? Why the hell is that?” Amy then blurted out.

It was only when Faith replied though that it seemed like some kind of answers were getting stuck inside her head. “Technically speaking… Molly said that you had a track record of causing chaos and messing around with ponies just on your own. If she actually did make something for you, then that would just ultimately be a liability because you would either break what she made, use it for bad purposes or just blame someone else for a mistake that you caused.” To make things even more tense, the code queen was actually seen reading a list of what looked like all the incidents that Amy had caused within the time that she had been here. “Would you like for me to continue? I have your whole… what’s the term… ‘rap sheet’ right here.”

“...... I am so going to get on Molly’s case for this when we get back.”

That had Nicko take a deep breath as he looked back at Amy for a moment. “How about we save any personal quarrels for after we’re well rested. I mean… we barely had enough strength to climb up here in the first place after destroying the demon responsible for all of this. I think we all deserve a much needed rest when we get back.”

“I would agree with you there…” Faith then replied… before taking out a folded piece of paper and handing it to Nicko. “Unfortunately, there’s one more problematic issue that might need our attention.”

That had Nicko and Amy look back at one another in confusion, shortly before Nicko then asked his niece a question. “What seems to be the problem?”

“I think you’ll see what it is once you read it.” With that in mind, the Rune Slayer soon opened up the paper… only to find the most unexpected thing yet.

Wedding invitations… sent out by Discord himself.

ATTENTION ALL RECIPIENTS AND/OR MORTALS!!!

The Chaotic Discord (and some other chumps) would proudly like to invite you to the wedding of Nicko Nocte, Eris Apophis and Moondancer Stella!! Join us for this once in a lifetime event as they are brought together in harmony for this one day event (Sadly not on HBO, but there will be a lot less red, I can guarantee you that.)

When: During the Harmony Festival, so possibly in the spring.

Where: We’ll get back to you on that.

What time: We’ll ALSO get back to you on that

Why: Because it’s better than Doomsday, the end of the world or pretty much anything else that you are possibly doing (Of course, that’s just my opinion. No offense).

Join us after the ceremony for games, music, entertainment, drinks and *Pagan sacrifices!!

*Disclaimer: No pagan sacrifices will actually be commenced at ANY time during the festivities and no actual pagans were harmed in the making of these invitations. The information on the card will change once we have a confirmed date, time and location for the event, though the subject in which why you should go is not subject to change. Also, we'll be having a full bar, but any drunk and disorderly conduct will lead you to possibly getting banished to the sun by Celestia. Have fun with that.

After reading the invitations… that just made Nicko facepalm himself as he looked back at Faith. “Just… who did he send these two?”

“Well… that’s the thing…” Faith then commented as the ship was getting closer to Ponyville. “He did a ‘reply all’ and sent it to everyone that we know and every displaced that we have ever met so far.”

That blew everything that the Rune Slayer thought of before out of the water… and lead to him only saying two words as the ship soon touched down. “Oh…… shit.”

End Log 32

Author's Notes:

Well... that was something...

So where do I start with this... Oh yeah. First and foremost... sorry to keep you waiting. Secondly, this chapter was something that I had in the works for a LONG long time. However, with Amy's writer (ElementBrigade) not being really motivated to assist at the time, it was something that I thought was not going to ever get done. But recently, some hope came back when EB told me that for this story, I could be the one who wrote for Amy. Which was good in a sense, but I still had to make sure I run a LOT of things by him in order to make sure I didn't mess anything up.

Song: Skillet- Live Free or Let Me Die

Now we have one more chapter before this book can close... and that's the wedding. Of course, since part of it is a draconequus wedding, then things may get chaotic

Leave the jokes to the professionals...

Anyways, on that note, thanks for being patient with me everyone. Hope to see you around real soon
-Frost And also Discord... for some reason

Log 33- Harmony

View Online

Of Magic and Machines- Harmony

Ponyville

It had only been a week or so after the defeat of the demons and the eruption of Smoky Mountain and slowly, everything was beginning to come back to normal. Again, slowly being the appropriate word here. After Amy went back to go get some much needed rest with Rainbow Dash and Nicko was personally recovering from some of the wounds he received, there was still one other item that had to be addressed. That of course was the wedding. Originally, the idea for it was supposed to be a small scale event. Yet, because of Discord wanting the ‘best’ for her daughter, it soon became a full scale event that resulted in possibly all the displaced that Nicko knew or had met once before being invited to the festivities.

Something that Eris herself was not entirely happy about as she was talking with Applejack when she decided to stop by to check on them. “So let me get this straight… Your father thought it would be great to invite every one of those Displaced friends you have to the wedding? Why the hay would he do that?”

“He has a sense for the dramatic while also wanting the best for me… even though those two things collide with one another all the time.” The Draconequus told the mare as she straightened up on the couch she was on. It would’ve been fine for her to have some cider or something in order to ease her mind a bit. However, with the pregnancy, the doctor told her that she wasn’t allowed to have alcohol. To which, really irritated her to an extent. “Think about it like this… this is the first time that he gets to see one of his own kids get married and have grandchildren. Normally, parents would want things to work out just right and not have anything else crop up along the way…… but in the process, he completely disregards the way I want to handle this unintentionally.”

“I… see what you mean… What does your mother think about it?” Applejack asked, expecting a simple answer. But it was then that Eris told her something that she honestly did not anticipate.

“I don’t have a mother.”

“…… I beg your pardon-?” Before Eris had the chance to answer her question… and before Applejack was able to finish her sentence, that was when a flash of magic went off as Twilight soon came in shortly afterwards.

“Hello there-” The alicorn started to speak, before she got hit in the face with a crumpled up newspaper that Eris didn’t need anymore. “Was that really necessary?”

“Was teleporting into our home unannounced necessary?” Eris countered what the alicorn said with a deadpanned glare. “You know that we have a door and a doorbell for a reason, right? If I were some other pony, I would have the guards try to arrest you for breaking and entering into my home for Chaos’ sake.”

“O… kay,” Twilight sighed, before looking back at both of them as she tried to think of something to change the topic of the conversation. “So, did I miss anything?”

“Well, Eris told me that she doesn’t have a mother…” Applejack then told her, which had Twilight utterly puzzled in response as she tried to process what her friend just told her.

“ …… Wait a minute, I thought-”

“If you think the little sun princess that uses magic to have a ball of gas orbit the planet is my mother, then both of you are mistaken,” The draconequus replied. “Celestia is Chaotic’s mother, not mine. He came from both Discord and Celestia, while for me, it’s much different.”

“How can it be different? Normal children are born when a stallion and a mare-”

“Okay, just stop right there…” Eris told her, using her chaos magic to have a stop sign directly show up in Twilight’s face. “First off, you don’t need to give me the talk like I’m a colt who just went into puberty. Secondly, you need to understand the fact that my father and I were not entirely born how most creatures are. I call him father because he created me so he wouldn’t have to be alone for all the years that Celestia, Artemis and then eventually you at one point had his ass encased in stone. Chaotic came in after he was redeemed.”

“But what about Discord?” Applejack then asked. “How exactly did he originally… well… take form exactly?” It was at that point that Eris decided to stop relaxing for the moment and then straighten herself up as she looked at both of them.

“Both of you are familiar with how Lord Tirek was originally imprisoned, right?” She replied, which had both ponies look back at her with a confused look as Eris sighed. “Look, despite what the history books say, they leave out the part as to how Tirek ended up being imprisoned. Both Celestia and Artemis originally sentenced Tirek to Tartarus, but it was Starswirl the Bearded who had to do the work… Yet, in order for him to actually be able to get him imprisoned because of how much power Tirek had at the time, Starswirl had to use something that all wizards would see as forbidden.”

That… soon had Twilight realize what she was talking about as she blinked several times. “Wait… you don’t mean… Starswirl used chaos magic?”

The draconequus nodded her head. “Yes… Starswirl himself was a lot younger at the time and did not know the reason why the magic was seen as forbidden when he used it. But it was in the days that followed that the effects began to kick in. And it almost drove him mad. It was bad enough because at the time that this was going on, he and his student Clover the Clever were the adoptive parents of three sisters that you may be familiar with. They had a rather good singing voice from what Yuri told me.” That… had Twilight’s eyes widen immensely as she looked back at Eris in utter shock at the bombshell that the draconequus had dropped on her right now.

“No way… You’re telling me… that Starswirl raised the Dazzlings!?”

“When he was younger, he found the three of them freezing to death off to the north of the Celestial Sea. Everything they knew originally was destroyed when a group of ponies raided their homes and murdered their parents. In the years that passed, Starswirl had tried to raise them to where they could fit in with society. Two of them, Adagio and Aria, were actually seen as heroes. However, when before Starswirl encountered Tirek years later, the Centaur told them that Starswirl was holding them back… and that he would ultimately betray them… You can probably guess what happened next.”

That was when Applejack realized what Eris in particular actually meant. “So when Starswirl’s… symptoms started showing up… The sirens took that as a sign that Tirek was telling the truth.”

“Exactly,” Eris replied, while clapping to make the whole scene seem rather dramatic. “They used the chance that Starswirl was in a town called Hollow Shades and meeting a few other heroes from different parts of Equestria to attack him. Ultimately, he was forced to banish them… the hardest choice he had to make.”

“What about the effects of the chaos magic that he used?” Twilight then asked. “Did he get rid of it?”

“That came afterwards. Banishing the Dazzlings served as a wake up call to him that this needed to be dealt with and that he could no longer put it off… so, he created a spell that would expel any chaos magic that would be inside of him and separate it for good.” The Spirit of Chaos described to both of them. “Yet, there was a flaw in his plan that he didn’t foresee. One of the side effects of ponies using chaos magic was that the chaos magic that was left over, if it wasn’t dealt with immediately, would slowly take on a persona of it’s own. Like a voice in your head that couldn’t exactly stop talking. When Starswirl created the spell, he originally thought that the voices and everything were a hallucination. But… when he cast it, that was when the magic he released… began to take up a body of it’s own.”

That… had both mares caught off guard. “No… way. You mean…”

All Eris did was just give them both a confirming nod. “Yes… Discord was the manifestation of the Chaos Magic that Starswirl severed from his body. And the reason why I know this and about the Dazzlings is that my father had Starswirl’s memories right up to the day that he was cast out. Those same memories he told to me as stories when I was younger… Though, I’m sure I know why Celestia or Artemis never said anything. I mean, with the Siren’s being seen as ‘downright villainous’, telling the entire country that one of their most prominent figures in Equestrian History raised a trio of them is not entirely going to look well for the history books.”

“That… is a rather valid point,” Twilight then admitted. “But anyways… can I ask you about something on a different topic?” Eris herself nodded her head briefly as she looked back at the alicorn, who seemed to use her magic to get out a pad of paper, a vial of ink and a quill. “I was wanting to help with organizing the wedding that you were going to have. I already know that Discord had sent out the messages everywhere, but since Applejack told me that she had been helping take care of both you and Moondancer while Nicko was away, I thought I would do whatever I can to help.”

“You do realize that when my father decided to ‘help out’, he basically turned it into something where it’s not just people from our world that are attending, but also some people from outside our world too right?” Eris asked her.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because it’s likely that a lot of Nicko’s friends also somehow either know Amy or act just like her.” The draconequus deadpanned. To which, it caused Twilight to freeze up upon hearing that… and lead to Applejack suggesting something else.

“Perhaps we should focus on who will be attending here first before we start thinking about everypony out there?”

“That… actually sounds like a better plan,” The princess then told both of them as she had her quill ready. “So, we already know that the girls will be coming along with Celestia and Artemis. My brother, Cadence and Flurry are likely to come once things have calmed down in the crystal empire. Nicko’s family are likely to be there. I rather not get too caught up in the details. Amy, Molly, Yuri, Jade and Jane are TBD.”

“What the hay is TBD?” The farmer asked.

“It means ‘to be determined’. We don’t entirely know if they’re going to attend or not,” Twilight replied. “Even though it’s likely that they won’t make it, it would be rude to assume that so we’ll include them on the list for not until we hear from them… Hmm, now that I think about it, there’s onepony who I like to invite that we haven’t seen in sometime.”

That had Applejack look back at her friend for a moment as she raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Who would that be?”

“Remember Starlight?” The question itself was something that Applejack looked to be familiar with as the earth pony nodded her head in response. “Well, I have been telling her about Nicko while she has been on travel with Sunburst, so I thought this would be a great opportunity in order to be able to see her again.”

“Yeah… One question,” Eris soon interjected shortly after Twilight was done speaking, which in turn had both mares look directly at her. “Who’s Starlight?”

That… caused Twilight to blink for a moment before facepalming herself as she sighed deeply. “Oh horseapples, I almost forgot. We haven’t told you about her yet… Starlight is… a bit complex to explain.”

“Not really…” Applejack sighed. “Eris, remember when Fluttershy helped your father by redeeming him? Think that… but different.”

Even though that sounded simple when it was first explained to her, Eris still was missing out on some important details that she would like for both ponies to explain. “How different exactly……? Wait, what’s this mare’s full name?”

“Starlight Glimmer.”

Now that part in particular, rang a few bells inside her head. “Hunh… Oddly enough, I heard that name before. When Nicko and I were with Faith and meeting a displaced named Neltharion, he told us that a mare by the same name was able to steal Cutie Marks. Is that who you’re referring too?”

“That’s the one,” Applejack replied back. “About several months after you and Nicko got encased in stone, Amy, Yuri and the rest of us went to the town where she was the mayor and ran some kind of weird ‘sameness’ cult where everypony had the same cutie mark. However, after Yuri dropped the town’s water supply on Starlight’s head and basically revealed that she was tricking the entire town, the mare ran off and swore revenge.”

Shortly after the earth pony said that, Twilight picked up where she left off. “Several weeks later, she had an entire plan figured out as to how to go back into the past.”

“Let me guess… alternate universe paradox BS?” Eris interjected.

“Pretty much… yet, when she witnessed Amy causing the walls of the castle to bleed red, she fainted and dropped the paper that contain the time spell and we sent it back to Canterlot to be put under lock and key,” The alicorn told her. “By that time, we gave her a choice… either be reformed… or have Amy and her sister come after her.”

“Should’ve guessed that she had some kind of role into that.” Eris grumbled. “What happened after she became your student?”

“Well, she helped us out on several occasions throughout the years and currently, she’s traveling around Equus as a teacher with her foalhood friend, Sunburst,” Twilight then used her magic to conjure up what looked like a photograph of both of them so Eris could see for themselves. “Most recently though, the two of them have been traveling around Mount Aris to the south of Equestria-”

Eris, for a moment, sounded disgusted by that name. But… mostly for the wrong reason. “Seriously? Who would name a place Mount Arse? That’s just beyond me.”

“Wait til ya see their caves…” Applejack snickered… which of course, didn’t entirely help the situation and just caused Twilight to facepalm herself in the process as she looked at both of them. More specifically, at Eris.

“No… It’s not named that. It’s Aris… Think your name, but replace the E with an A,” It took Eris a moment in order to process that, but after realizing what she meant, that was when Twilight took a seat on a nearby couch and looked back at them. “Mount Aris is known as the kingdom of the Hippogriffs with their capital being Hippogriffia. Three years ago, we invited their leader, Queen Novo, to attend the Friendship Festival that we were holding in Canterlot… What happened next is a VERY long story…”

“Let me guess… The kind of story that you could put in a two hour theatrical release, have critics look at it and judge it by it’s quality while all the die hard fans think it’s the best thing ever before shipping it to DVD and loading it with a bunch of bonus features?” Eris then asked… and the question itself bewildered the two ponies that heard that. “What? I’m just saying… It’s a common trend when it comes to filmmaking. What do you think ‘deleted scenes’ are for?”

Twilight herself was still trying to wrap her head around things for a moment as she was trying to think of a way in order to change the topic of the conversation. “Right…… So, who else do you think we should have come to the wedding? Maybe Apple Bloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders can be the flower girls like at Cadence’s wedding?”

“Those kids would be alright as long as they don’t do anything to mess up the festivities…” Applejack mumbled, before realizing something as she looked back at Eris. “Speaking of kids though… Have you got around to what you want to name yours Eris?”

“That… is a valid point,” Eris admitted. “But no. I haven’t gotten around to naming them yet because it’s already hard for me to think on it. While Nicko was gone, Moondancer already thought of a name for our daughter… and I think she’s doing it as a way to thank Princess Celestia.”

“Well, Celestia was open minded to letting your father be reformed instead of keeping him in stone…” Twilight pointed out as she scratched her chin. “Not to mention the fact that if your father hadn’t been reformed, you wouldn’t have met Nicko in the first place.” That… was something that Eris honestly didn’t realize until just now. But before she could comment on that, Twilight spoke once again as she asked a question. “So what did she name your daughter?”

“She… wanted to name her Dawn,” Eris sighed for a moment before looking down at her belly. “But she has it easier than I do. I need to name two sons after all.”

“Why not name the other one after Artemis?” Twilight suggested.

“Oh please, that’s just cheap… If you want to follow that naming logic, you would then suggest to name my other son off of Princess Cadence,” Eris rolled her eyes before looking back at them. “But… I haven’t really had a lot of time to think about it.”

That was when they heard the door to Nicko’s room open and notice the Rune Slayer stepping into the Room. “Think about what, Eris?” He originally asked, before noticing both Applejack and Twilight in the living room with her. “Oh… Sorry, am I interrupting something here?”

“Actually no… but I think maybe you can help us out,” Applejack then replied back. “Eris told us about how Moondancer already thought of the name for one of your children and right now, Eris is having some trouble thinking of the names for your two sons.”

“And I told them that I thought that naming our little girl ‘Dawn’ is somehow referencing Princess Celestia and that all suggestions so far are making me think that they’re trying to name our kids off of royalty,” Eris groaned in response as she looked back at him while he walked over to the couch. “Sure, I would be fine with naming one of my kids off of royalty, but not all of them.”

Nicko looked back at the draconequus that was his future wife and folded his arms for a minute as he was lost in thought. “Well… I only have one thought that comes to mind. I’m fine with naming one of them off of Celestia and Artemis, but I have a different idea for the last one.”

“Oh? Who would that be then?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow in response.

“I’m glad you asked,” Nicko sarcastically replied before telling her his answer. “You.”

That… was something that Eris and Applejack were both surprised by as they looked at one another, before the Draconequus asked a question. “Wait… you want to name it based off of Applejack? What are you going to call it, Apple Nocte? Because that honestly just sounds like your trying too hard.”

“Eris, when I was gone, Applejack was the one who was helping take care of you and Moondancer while I had to stop the demons from taking over Equestria… and I didn’t say I was going to name it off of Applejack specifically,” The spellsword replied as he took a deep breath. “I was going to name it off of her and her element of harmony. Back home in a country called japan, the name ‘Naoto’ literally means ‘one who is honest’ in their language. I thought it would be fitting given how she’s been helping us out a lot.”

“I… don’t know what to say,” Applejack responded, honestly shocked that the Rune Slayer was wanting to thank her in such a way. She honestly didn’t believe it at first, but after she had it set in for a couple of moments, the earth pony couldn’t be more thankful. “Sugarcube, t-thank you… it means a lot.”

“No worries.” Nicko smiled as he looked at her. Shortly before he heard Twilight say something.

“So… we have Naoto and Dawn… yet, how are you going to name the last one after Artemis?” She asked for inquiry as the Rune Slayer looked back at her.

“Well… I was thinking Noctis Caelum. Noctis being the first name and Caelum being the middle name. In latin, it means ‘Night Sky’.”

“Oh… That sounds… good actually,” Eris replied back, looking at her future husband. “I swear, I want to use ‘Night Sky’ as a nickname for him now…” Nicko chuckled for a moment, looking back at the three of them before Twilight decided to get up and head for the door.

“Hey Eris, we can pick up on our conversation about the wedding later. If you do happen to hear from any of Nicko’s friends, be sure to let me know so that way I can add them to the guest list.” She told them, before teleporting out of the room… and leaving a burned scorch mark on the floor.

“Dagnabit! I just cleaned that!!” Applejack groaned, taking a deep sigh before looking back at Eris and Nicko. “I’ll come back later to check on you. Rather not make Granny Smith worried by staying out too long.” She took a moment to clean up the mess that Twilight accidentally made before using the door in order to leave, allowing Eris and Nicko the chance in order to spend some time together.

A couple of days after the invitations were sent out, Nicko did not get a lot of replies back for the wedding. Instead, many of the displaced that he had originally met who were sent an invitation like that of Gon or Gremmy got the same letter back, only with a big blood red stamp that said ‘RETURN TO SENDER’ on it. Of course, at first it was just a couple of them… but then a few more came back with the same stamp on it. Including one that he personally found as surprising because he thought he would surely get a reply back from her.

Max Caulfield.

In all honesty, for someone that had met her before and was invited to her world for dinner, Nicko thought that she would be one of the first people to reply back. After all, she did take it upon herself to help him take his relationship with Eris and Moondancer to the next level. Not to mention the fact that after Nicko had asked if it was possible that she and Lance could be the godparents of his kids, Max quickly said yes. So in all honesty, seeing something like this was rather… confusing to him.

At first, he wanted to ask Lance about it. Especially since he didn’t recall getting her token. But it was as he was thinking about this that he happened to see something that occurred near the edge of his desk. A small flicker was seen for a moment as a small tear in the void opened up… and what looked like a blue scarab emerged from it. Not an actual scarab, but something like it. However, it didn’t move at all and instead just sat there on the desk motionless. At first, Nicko thought that it was just some weird space insect that just came out of nowhere and decided to just make itself at home on his desk. But the longer he looked at it, the more that he began to wonder if this was an ordinary beetle… or if it was something else.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of him… and he decided to pick it up to have a closer look at the object in question as he picked it up with his left hand. Upon feeling it, he didn’t feel any form of living shell or outer surface if you were touching an actual beetle. Instead, it was more metallic and it felt a bit cold on the outside. Yet the center of it actually looked like a button someone could press. The Rune Slayer was careful, but nevertheless pressed the button anyways as the object began to buzz for a moment. Shortly before having a holographic screen emerge from above it.

“Hang on!! I’ll be right there, Teal!” Nicko heard a feminine voice on the other end of the line spoke up, to which surprised him. Aside from Robin’s journal, this was the first kind of object that he had come across that allowed for direct face to face communication with who was on the other end of the line. And from how it sounded, it made him think it could possibly be a displaced.

Shortly after he heard that statement, he soon came face to face with a dark brown haired woman, who was wearing what appeared to be a grey t-shirt with what looked like a logo of some equestrian sports team on the front. “Sorry for making you wait… I didn’t startle you now, did I?”

“Um… No?” Nicko replied back, raising an eyebrow. “I’m sorry but… I don’t think you and I are familiar with one another. My name is Nicko and… If I may ask… Who are you?”

The woman blinked for a moment, before realizing that she forgot something as she facepalmed herself. “Ah right… Sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Katy, otherwise known as Blue Beetle. Member of the newly formed superhero team by Gunvolt called QUILL.”

That… rang a couple of bells in Nicko’s head. But just to be sure, he decided to ask her a question. “Hold on… By Gunvolt, do you mean… Lance Walker?”

“Yeah! Do you know him?” With that, the Rune Slayer felt like he was getting somewhere as he looked back at the screen at the lady.

“Yeah, I’ve had the priviledge to meet both him and his family. They even invited my fiance’s and I to have dinner with them.” Around now though… was when he noticed a change in expression on Katy’s face. From one of joy… to what looked like an expression of concern. With this in mind, he proceeded to ask her a question. “Why… is something wrong?”

It took a moment for Katy to try to compose herself, before she took a deep breath and began to speak. “Well… There was a mission that happened most recently. Lance was teaming up with someone he knew in order to try and stop somepony who kidnapped Aurora and planned on trying to take over the world and such.” She paused for a second to take a deep breath as she looked back at him and sighed. “When Lance went to face him and rescue them… we found out that this villains actions caused the link that was established between Max’s world and ours to become severed… and with it, everyone in Max’s world was devoured by the void. In a sense… he lost everything. His kids… the family Max let him be apart of… Max herself… and their unborn child.”

That… stunned Nicko. To think that in a matter of days… a friend that he knew would go through such a tremendous loss like this. It was just heartbreaking. But… with it, it also made him wonder… did the invitations that were sent out to some of the displaced he knew come back because of the same circumstances. Yet, he did not have the capacity to think about that on such a level as he looked back at him. “I’m…… very sorry to hear that. Is… he doing okay?”

“Not entirely… He had originally promised to keep Max and them safe and since this happened a couple days ago, he’s been in a bit of a… slump,” She replied back with another sigh. “He hasn’t eaten much, only comes out of his room a couple times a day and some of the other team members have had to cover for him because of what’s been going on. In all honesty, I’m concerned for him. Especially if the first thing that he might think about if I tried to talk about it with him is how he failed to help them when they needed it most.” That was definitely concerning. Especially with the fact that hearing him act this way was almost unheard of.

Yet… there was something in what Katy had told him that caused him to look back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Hold on… you haven’t talked to him about it? Why?”

“Well, originally, a couple of us thought that we should give him some time to cope, but the more I think on it, the more I feel like I should do something even though I’m kind of scared about how the conversation might turn out,” She explained for a moment before looking back at the Rune Slayer. “There was a time where he was summoned to originally help me out… but the more and more that we worked together, the more and more that it felt like we were more than just friends. I… don’t want him to push me away if all I want to do is help him.”

Nicko… had to take a few moments in order to try and think of what to say. But after a little bit, he soon thought of his answer. “Katy… you care for Lance, right?”

“O-of course, why-?” She asked, a little puzzled.

“Then you should tell him that… You should tell him how much he means to you… and let him know that he didn’t lose everything…” Nicko said, before sighing himself. “I-i’m sorry, I would normally give better advice if I think on something for a bit, but-”

“No… it’s fine actually…” That, caught the Rune Slayer off guard as he looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. “Thank you… It means a lot to hear that. I… really care for him a lot. Like more than a friend, but I haven’t had the chance to tell him. I’ll be sure to do that now.”

“Okay, but before you go, can I ask you some-” Before Nicko could be able to fully finish his sentence, the screen disappeared as Katy closed it down from her end. Leaving the Rune Slayer talking directly at a wall. “-thing…” After the abrupt end to his call, Nicko himself just dropped his head down for a moment as he began to try and process everything from his conversation with Katy. Learning that Max was gone was a rather huge thing to take in… even more so by hearing about how she had disappeared.

All of that thinking and processing though had to take a rather short break when he heard a knock on the door to his room. “Who is it?”

The door opened up, showing none other than his mother on the other side. “Hey there, Nicko. Is everything going alright?” The Diabla asked, shortly before noticing that her son didn’t normally have the calm and relaxed expression that he would normally have. “Nicko? Is something wrong?”

After hearing his mother close the door, that’s when Nicko took a deep sigh. “I just got some bad news… Max isn’t going to make it to the wedding…… she’s gone?”

“Gone?” Ciela originally asked… before realizing what her son meant by that. “You mean-?”

“Yeah… One of Lance’s friends told me that her world got swallowed by the void after something happened in Lance’s world…” Nicko replied, sounding a bit down. “It… kind of hits home a bit… I mean, she’s the reason why Eris, Moondancer and I are going to start a family and now she’ll never be able to see us again… It’s like losing a family member.”

Ciela didn’t know what to say… All she could do was just try to comfort her son in this moment. Sure, she had the priviledge to meet Max with her husband Luke, but this was something completely different. “I… see what you mean… Max felt like a sister to me… and reminded me of my own sister.”

That part… caught Nicko’s attention. “Your… own sister?”

“She was your aunt, but neither you, nor Anson would got the chance to meet her… or will get the chance,” Ciela deeply sighed before looking back at her son. “Her name was Sophia… I cared for her just as much as she cared for Luke and I, even though your father never cared for her husband and really had a grudge against him… After you were originally encased in stone and we found a way to go back home to earth, I tried to get back in contact with her because it had been so long since I last heard from her… Unfortunately, I found her at a gravestone in the cemetery closed to the town I was born.”

That… surprised Nicko on a number of different levels. But before he could be able to say anything… that was when Ciela continued to talk. “It’s a shame really… She never got the chance to see you guys and you never got the chance to see your Aunt, Uncle and Cousin.”

“Did you… know what their names were?”

“Her husband was named Raegan and they decided to marry under our last name,” Ciela told him, before looking back at her own son. “Other then that, I never found out much about your cousin or what he looked like. Other than his name.” Her son looked back at the Diabla with a raised eyebrow, shortly before then asking one last question.

“What was his name?”

All the Diabla had was one answer for him. And that answer was also the same thing that began to pour down from some of the storm clouds that began to drift over Ponyville.

“So I got your invitation some time ago and I gotta say, congratulations on you, Eris and Moondancer finally deciding to get married.”

It had been a few days since the original invitation had went out about the wedding and right now, Nicko had personally decided to take the time to come back to Beacon. Especially after being away for so long. Many of the other teachers that were at the school were surprised to see him being back so soon, especially those who had assisted his brother in the Crystal Empire. Now, he was getting the chance to catch up with the displaced that had originally asked for him to come to the school as he had the Rune Slayer come talk to him. “Thank you… It’s good to hear you say that, Sun.”

“Come on now, you’re doing a lot better than Fluttershy and I are right now. We’re still trying to figure out how to do it and it seems like you have things all figured out,” The Faunus replied back. Nicko happened to notice a few things that were different this time around, but decided to not ask about it. “Though, there was another reason that I wanted to be able to talk to you on the side. And not in the way of congratulating you on your wedding.”

That had him raise an eyebrow for a minute as the spellsword looked back at his friend. “Oh? And what would that be?”

“Well… Let’s just say that there’s someone I would like you to meet.” He replied as Sun lead him to another section of Beacon. Going up an elevator and towards a part of the school that looked like it had the inner workings of a clock. He could even see some cogs and gears turning as they moved through the entire hallway.

By the time they reached the top floor, they stepped out to see a closed door as Sun knocked on the door. “Professor, it’s me. May I come in?”

“Why of course, you may,” Nicko heard a voice on the other side of the door speak up as he looked to Sun for a moment. The Faunus himself opened the door as both of them stepped inside. It was then that the Rune Slayer was greeted by some he had not seen before in person. A man with white hair, shaded glass spectacles, long dark green pants and a black suit that was covering a black vest, green shirt and the cross shaped cowl on their neckline. “Well Mr. Wukong… I believe this is the first time I’ve met your friend here, is it?”

“Yes, but I do believe I have told him about you before,” The faunus mentioned. “Ozpin, I want to introduce to you my friend and fellow displaced, Nicko Nocte. Nicko, this is Professor Ozpin, Beacon’s new Headmaster.”

That, lead to Nicko thinking that this was rather a big deal. Especially if he was meeting someone with the title of Headmaster and was in charge of Beacon. “It’s an honor to meet you.” He replied, thinking it was the best way for him to respond in a sensible manner.

“Why, I could say the same for you,” Ozpin told him in response. “After everything that Sun had told me about what you can do and the abilities you have, I really wanted to be able to have the chance to meet you in person and learn more about you. After all, you are going to be a teacher at Beacon.”

Nicko himself was rather surprised to hear that personally. He didn’t expect for anyone, let alone the headmaster of Beacon, to speak about him with such praise. “Wow… I don’t know what to say… Out of curiosity though, what did Sun say about me?”

“He’s told me a lot about you, but nothing bad, I can assure you that,” Ozpin assured him as he looked back at the Rune Slayer. “I just wanted to get the chance to hear you tell me about it.” With that, Sun took it as a cue for him to leave the room so Nicko and Ozpin can have the chance to talk with one another.

Which, made Nicko begin to think over what he should say next, before asking one question to Ozpin. “Well… where would you like for me to start?”

The headmaster only had one response for him as he placed his hands together and leaned forward on his desk. “From the beginning…”

Few Weeks Later…

In the weeks after the original invitation was sent out, several changes were made to the event in order to make sure and accommodate who might be attending. For one thing, there was now a set time for when the wedding was to be hosted. Which also included a practical location for the event too, much to the relief of Nicko, Eris and Moondancer. Despite the mistake that Discord had made in sending it out to everyone, it turns out that they had not gotten a lot of feedback from their friends at Beacon or around the multiverse. So it meant that they could be able to not make a big deal out of this.

That included the fact that shortly after the fight with the demons was over, it turns out that Amy and her family had decided to go on a vacation. Claiming that they ‘earned it’ after all the crazy shenanigans from what happened in the Crystal Empire and everything else in between. Which was fine… and also a sigh of relief. Amy had been known for crashing important events like Twilight’s presentations on Friendship or meetings with Delegates from around Equestria, so learning that she wasn’t going to be there was actually a good thing. The last thing that they wanted was for someone to go all ‘wedding crashers’ on the day that was of most importance to the Rune Slayer.

In fact, when it came to finding a place to host it, Applejack had a rather good idea on where to do it. She told Eris and Moondancer about a secret grove where her parents got married that was big enough to host a small venue. Good for a few friends and family… even though Discord really wanted to go all out for his daughter.

Though, there was one thing that he was still trying to sort out internally… that he was still unsure about. So, he decided to have ask Twilight about it. But when he told her, she seemed rather surprised by what he was suggesting. “You want to talk… with Sunset? Is there any particular reason why?”

Nicko honestly wanted to ask himself that very same question. But, nothing really came to him. “I just… well, I thought that given what had happened when I was last there, I would want to be able to stay in touch with them. But, given how you currently have the only direct form of communication between both this world and the mirror world, I thought I would ask you about it… there was someone that I wanted to make sure that she was okay.”

Twilight thought about it to herself for a moment, before looking back at Nicko. “Nicko, I’ll talk to Sunset about it, but there’s only so much that I can be able to do to help. Right now, you should focus on your wedding. It’s coming soon and I really don’t think you would want to be stressed out for it. Especially with all your friends there.”

That part had a bit of a chill run down his spine. Sighing as he looked back at her. “Yeah… Thanks, Twilight.” Still, even with that vote of confidence from the princess, it didn’t do anything to lighten his spirits up. He originally wanted to invite Sunset to attend, but given what Twilight just told him, the thought of that happening now was really unlikely. Still, he knew he had to talk what Twilight was saying seriously… given that the big day was almost here.

The day had finally come… and with it, Nicko felt ready. Well, to be fair… mostly ready. There were a few details that he wasn’t informed about as the ceremony came closer and closer to starting and by the time he was standing by where the pastor would be, he was already beginning to sweat a little. Mostly because he had no actual idea as to who was going to watch over the ceremony today and if there was other details he might have overlooked. Not only was his nervousness not helping… the longer that he thought about it, the more that he felt like the guy on the movie ‘OfficeSpace’ when his boss was like ‘Did you get the memo?’ when he forgot the cover sheet for his TPS report.

As he was waiting in the shade under the trees, Nicko honestly did not know who was possibly going to show up first. He knew that the girls were probably helping Eris and Moondancer get ready, Leo and Anson were preparing for afterwards when they would celebrate the marriage and there was no sign on his parents at all. And right now, he felt as if there was something he could do in order to help out some more.

However, the first person he heard come in was… someone he honestly thought would not actually be coming at all. “There you are… I was wondering where in the world you might be.” When the Rune Slayer looked up in the direction of the voice, his eyes widened for a moment. Surprised at who exactly he was looking at.

“L-lance?” Nicko blinked. Honestly thrown off guard by the sight of the adept. Unlike his normal clothes that he had seen him wear before, Lance was wearing a black suit and slacks with a cyan collared shirt underneath. Something very formal for someone who’s had a very strange dress code for his line of work. “H-how? Katy told me you two weren’t going to make it.”

“Well, I heard from Katy that you gave her some advice…” That had Nicko personally become a bit worried. Because he was unsure about what he was going to hear Lance say next. “… And I wanted to thank you for helping her. With it, she was able to help me out and get things back on track. Which is why we were able to make it today.”

The Rune Slayer himself personally let out a sigh of relief in response… until he realized the full extent of what the Adept told him. “Hold on… We?”

“Katy’s here too. She’s helping out Eris right now with preparations.” Lance clarified.

“Right uh… Are you sure that you two can be here? I mean… forgive me if this sounds a bit bold but… with you two being part of a hero team, I thought that would be seen as a full time job.” The Rune Slayer replied back as his friend took a deep breath.

“Yeah, my team and everyone on it is going incognito for the moment given some… incidents that played out back home,” The Azure Striker informed him. “Katy already told you how things were distorted in my world right?” Nicko nodded, prompting his friend to continue speaking. “Well, let’s say that because of that, a lot has changed… including my aunt, Aya. So much so that as time passed, a chain of events went off to which it placed both her team and mine against one another in a civil war. Even though none of us actually started it.”

Now that threw Nicko off guard. Immediately. “Did anypony get hurt?”

“Not really, but even though only a few people got hurt, it’s affected a lot of people that I know. Which is the reason why QUILL’s had to go into hiding for the time being.” Lance sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before looking back at Nicko. “But enough about me. Today’s about you, Eris and Moondancer. I wanted to be there and see you guys be happy once you were married. Max would’ve wanted to see that too, I imagine.” All Nicko could do was think that last part through and nod his head in response as he looked back at his friend.

“I’m sorry for your loss… She was a very good friend to us too, Lance.”

“I know… But if Max were able to talk to us, she wouldn’t want for us to be depressed and mope about her. Instead, she would want for us to keep moving on and not forget about her when she was with us,” Lance replied back to him, before extending his hand out to Nicko in order to give him something. “To which… I think you should be the one to have this.”

The Rune Slayer extended his hands forward, cupping them so Lance could give him what was in his hand. When the Adept let go, Nicko was surprised to find a pair of rings in his hand. A set that looked… oddly familiar. Until he realized where he remembered seeing them before.

“Lance… these are-”

“Yes… This was the ring that once belonged to Max. It somehow ended up back in my old clothes after everything that happened. So, I asked for one more from Radiance to form a pair and decided to bring them here for you. Consider it an early wedding gift,” Lance replied back to him, noticing everypony else that was coming inside the venue and taking a seat. “Well, I better go take a seat. Best of luck.”

“T-thanks…” Nicko replied, looking back at him for a moment and nodded his head. All before taking a deep breath as he felt a light breeze come from behind him. Turning around, he happened to notice Princess Cadence walking up from behind him as she was making her way up to where he was right now. “P-princess? What are you doing here?”

“Well, today is the day for the ceremony. And even though Discord personally thought that he should be the pastor at today’s ceremony, I was able to convince him that somepony with a little more… experience should be best for the role.” The Alicorn told him. Even though Nicko personally questioned the thought that she had done something like this before, he decided to go along with it. She was the princess of love after all.

“If that’s what you think would be for the best, than what do we have to lose?” He replied, shrugging his shoulders before looking to the front of the aisle. Watching as some of the fillies that were the flower mares began to walk down the aisle, while a cello could be heard from the side, noticing that Octavia had taken the liberties of conducting the music for the ceremony. The only oddity that he noticed was that Faith herself… was not wearing a dress. Instead, she opted for a suit that made her look like she was a butler.

That was only for a moment though as he soon looked to the end of the aisle… and watched Discord guide both Eris and Moondancer down the aisle, dressed in their wedding gowns as they strode down the aisle. For a moment, Nicko was stunned by how beautiful they were before they reached the end of the aisle, the music slowly dying down as they faced him. Even watching as what looked like a girl that was a little bit younger than Faith had brought up a pillow that had one of the rings on there as the Rune Slayer took a moment to set down the two rings that Lance had given him, before the ceremony began.

“Ladies and Gentlecolts,” Cadence began to speak. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of three special individuals. Each one of them being just as unique and kind as the last. Now… who would like to go first?”

“I would like to, if that’s okay…” Eris spoke up, to which the princess nodded her head as Eris turned to face Nicko. “Nicko… when I first came across you, I honestly did not think that it would lead to something like this. Looking back though, both of us have gone through many things together and… I believe that our bond has only gotten stronger ever since. I’m really looking forward to what the future has in store for us. And the same goes for Moondancer as well.”

“I guess I-i should go next then,” Moondancer replied, straightening her glasses for a moment. “Nicko… Eris… When I first met you two, I… didn’t know what to think of at first. I mean… I knew that I was trying to find some kind of purpose in life that was outside of the walls of Canterlot, but I did not know where exactly to look… You showed me that. Not to mention that you also taught me things that I never thought was possible before. Because of you, I… feel like myself again. And I both of you to thank for that. I will love both of you for eternity.”

With that, it left Nicko to be the last one to speak. It was nerve racking… but soon, he was able to clear his throat and begin. “Eris… Moondancer… When I was younger, I didn’t think any of this was originally possible… better yet, I didn’t think that a lot of the things we would see on a day to day basis would be somehow possible either. But both of you have been able to help me open up my eyes to what can be possible… and for that, I am rather grateful. I will love both of you with all my heart… and nothing will change that.”

Cadence nodded her head as Nicko finished his statement, smiling as she looked over the crowd. “Alright… I’m not sure if this part is necessarily needed, but if anypony objects to this union, speak now or forever hold your piece.” For a little while, things got rather quiet. The only thing that anypony could hear was the sound of chirping birds and a calm breeze.

That was… until everypony heard a loud voice shout out from what looked like the bracer that was underneath the sleeve of Lance’s suit jacket. “Oh for the love of Celestia, JUST BUCKING KISS ALREADY!!!”

All that did was make Katy giggle, while causing the adept to facepalm himself and groan deeply. “Ugh… Lumen… what did I tell you about-?”

“What? I thought you were the one who originally told me that I can speak my mind.” They heard, which made the adept turn towards Nicko and the others at the front of the aisle.

“I’m really sorry about this-”

“N-no, it’s fine actually,” Cadence insisted, turning to the young girl that was still holding onto the pillow. “In fact, can we have the rings please?” The girl at first… seemed rather timid for a moment as she looked towards them. But, after a little bit, she was able to raise the pillow up as Cadence used her levitation magic to place them on the ring fingers of Moondancer and Nicko along with the Ring Talon of Eris’ eagle claw. Thanking the young girl as she then took a seat next to Lance and Katy. “Now, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you… husband and wives.”

As Cadence heard that, Nicko turned to see everypony that they knew that were either friend or family cheer for them. Shortly before hearing one last thing from Cadence. “You may now kiss the brides.”

End Log 33

Author's Notes:

So... Where to begin with this? Hmm... Well, first and foremost, after some time, I began to focus on a few things. One, some of the conversations here are focused on the lore of Nicko's universe and also some other information to build his world. It also dives into some other characters from one of my other stories and the future circumstances for them, but that's... minor in comparison. Mainly though, I used this to tie together a bunch of things that might be seen as 'loose ends' to the series and cover elements that may also be covered in a future project that my friend, BronyParasite, and I, want to release in 2018. But to do that, we needed to get this done first.

I would like to take a moment though to thank everyone who has helped me work on this story and also thank those that I have had the privilege to do crossover with over the years. It was really fun working with all of you guys and I can't wait to see what the future may hold in store.

For now though, I want to wish you all an early happy new year and see you in 2018! Do have a chance to look at the Epilogue though. That way you may have a clue as to what might be next in store.
-Frost

*EDIT 6/27/3019- Cleaned up some of the items in the dialog between Katy and Nicko to accurately reflect on future events

Epi-log- One More Light

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Of Magic and Machines- One More Light

It had been close to three months after that memorable date and since then, a lot had happened for Nicko. Both Eris and Moondancer gave birth to their children without any complications, but right now, his major concern is about his children being raised in an environment where they would not get caught in the crossfire if a displaced or any other villain just happened to come after him or his family. It had already happened once before while Eris and Moondancer were in the hospital, where a pony who thought of the demons as a sign of salvation tried to assassinate him and his family for what he had done to the demons leader.

Which, was all the more reason to come here. But… he wasn’t alone this time around. “Uncle Nicko, why did you want to come over here to the mirror world again?”

The Rune Slayer sighed as he turned to his niece and looked back at her. “I wanted to talk to a friend of mine here… I really want to make sure that my children… no… your cousins can be able to live somewhere safe.” Just as he told her that, the two of them approached the outside of a particular home that he was looking for. “Can you wait here? I’m going to see if they’re home.”

Faith nodded her head, turning around to have a look at her surroundings while her uncle walked up the driveway of the home that they stopped at and went over to the door. However, it was something that was across the street that got Faith’s attention and caused for her to walk closer to the edge of the driveway.

Because for a moment, she thought she had seen a boy with white hair and purple eyes. Not a normal one though. One that was looking directly at her and holding a strange device. Shortly after seeing him, she had to look away when her uncle called her over… and when she looked back across the street, nobody was there. “That… was odd. Who was he?” She said to herself, before going to the door and walking in after her uncle.

Immediately, she met a few faces that she was rather… unfamiliar with. Mostly because of the fact that she was rather… unfamiliar with meeting people in that of the mirror world. The first two people she met were two women whose hair looked like that of a lit campfire and skin to match, even though both of them had their differences.

One wore a blue blouse with a set of black jeans and socks that were the same color as her blouse, while the other wore a pink shirt under a black leather jacket, a dull grey set of sweats that stopped just before her worn biker boots. The first one of the two though, was the one to notice Faith and spoke up. “Oh… Why hello there. Nicko, I didn’t really expect for you to have someone come along with you. Who is she?”

Nicko himself sighed, before then saying something to them. “Faith, these are my two friends, Sunset and Eventide… Girls, this is Faith. She’s my niece.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you two,” Faith herself originally asked, before following her statement up with a question. “Would the two of you happen to be twins?”

“Uh… Sort of.” The one with the jacket said, “She’s Sunset, and I’m… well, her from this world.” Faith, for a moment, tilted her head in confusion.

“She means that Sunset was originally from Equestria, Ms. Faith…” She then heard the familiar voice from one of her earrings for a moment. To which, caught Sunset’s attention.

“What the heck was that?”

“That was Moby and Remy,” The Code Queen replied, having her earrings take form into the two drones that stood beside her now. “They’re my assistants and help me with processing data and information. Especially in places that I may be unfamiliar with.” That was even followed by Remy presenting what looked like a holographic screen that pointed out the differences between both of them, before she dismissed it and looked back at them.

“Okay… Twilight would definitely like something like that,” Sunset spoke up, before adding one other detail. “I mean Twilight over here. Not Princess Twilight.”

“I figured as much, but didn’t want to assume…” Nicko replied back to her, before looking at both of them now. “Though, I didn’t come here because of Faith… I wanted to talk about something else…”

“Alright, I’ll let you… guys discuss that.” Eventide said as she began walking away.

“Actually… I wanted to talk about it with you too.” The Rune Slayer spoke up, to which caught Eventide’s attention. “I… wanted to ask you both something in regards to my kids. For me, I’ve realized that with how things are going for me right now, it just means that there’s more of a chance of having them end up in harm's way. And I don’t want that for them, especially when they grow up. I need someone to help look after them… raise them… foster them.”

Sunset blinked rapidly while Eventide didn’t at all, before looking at Eventide. “Wait… Are you saying-?”

“Yes… I’m asking if you want to be the foster parents of my kids,” Nicko replied back. “It’s a tough decision… but I have already talked about it with Eris and Moondancer and they agree with me. We want for our children to be safe… and I think they are safe in your care…” He paused for a moment, before looking back at Eventide. “I know this is much of me to ask from you… but I-”

“What the heck!? You think you can just barge into our lives and ask us to resign ourselves to watching out for your kids!? You’re their parents!”

Nicko sighed deeply, before looking back at them. “I know… But in the time that they were born, several different ponies back home have tried to threaten both me and my family… and because of this, Equestria is not a safe place to raise them…”

Eventide glared intensely at Nicko. “Then why not move here? Or are you afraid of being parents?”

“I’m not afraid… I want to raise them…” He told her back in response, looking directly at her. “But no matter where I go… and no matter where I am, I feel as if there’s a target painted on my back. I can’t be able to raise them properly if some displaced keeps on coming after me when I’m trying to spend time with my children… I’m afraid that one day, they will get hurt because of someone who does want to come after me. And raising them like this, being constantly alert and on the run, is not how I want to raise them…”

“Why should we? I recall not owing you anything.” Eventide’s glare became even more furious.

“Eventide, please… calm yourself.” Sunset urged her. “Didn’t you forget about how Nicko helped you before? It’s because of him that you’re no longer under Sunblight’s control.”

“I’m sorry but… Sun-who?” Faith asked, confused.

“Yeah, but that was also because of him though, wasn’t it?” Sunset glared at her, before looking back at Nicko.

“Nicko, I’m sorry about this-”

“No, it’s okay… I understand…” Nicko insisted. “I’ve made many mistakes… and I accept what I’ve done… What was I thinking anyways?” The Rune Slayer asked himself, who had his head down in his hands and seeming really stressed out before making his way towards the door. “All I wanted was to ensure that my children can be happy and safe… Now I don’t think such a thing is possible after what you’ve told me… I’m sorry if I wasted your time.”

Eventide growled as she looked away and groaned out two words. “How many…?”

Upon hearing that, the Rune Slayer stopped, looking back towards them as he pulled out a picture for them. “Three… Two sons, one daughter. Naoto, Noctis and Dawn.”

“It’s not my choice. I just live under Sunset’s roof. Plus there are six other girls here.” Eventide said half heartedly.

“Sunset told my Twilight that you did… babysitting, I think it was,” They all heard one of Faith’s drones repeat back to them. “So if the personalities for this worlds mane six are the same as the ones we know of, you two are-”

“Moby, I think that’s enough…” Faith told them, before both drones turned back into the set of earrings that were on her ears. “I’m sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine actually.” Sunset replied back, before looking back at Nicko. “Can you… give us some time to think on this though? I want to ask Twilight and the girls about it and see what they think.”

“Feel free to take as much time as you need. I’m not trying to pressure you to make a choice right now-” Nicko assured them as he had Faith follow him to the door… before noticing something in the nearby hallway. A young, redheaded girl that looked familiar. Almost like Amy… but a bit different. “Oh… I’m sorry, but I didn’t realize you were already taking care of someone.”

“That’s Cressida, and a friend of a friend asked me to take care of her.” Nicko turned around for a moment, getting to his knees as he looked at Cressida. Waving his hands in order to say hello to her. Being as calm and collective as possible before looking back to Eventide.

“She seems rather friendly.” The Rune Slayer commented.

“She is if you get past her shyness.” Eventide replied, watching as Cressida went into another room.

“Whoops… I didn’t mean to startle her or anything,” Nicko sighed, scratching the back of his head. “My bad.”

“Yeah, even I startle her sometimes.” Eventide replied. “She’s also efficient with… with jobs I give her. Chores and the like.”

“Wait til she starts seeing Eventide as her mother.” Sunset chuckled lightly as she looked back at Nicko and Faith. “Anyways… We’ll get back to you once we’ve had a bit of time to think. Have a good evening, you two.”

“Thank you Sunset,” Nicko replied back, before looking to Eventide. “Have a good evening.” With that, both of them left the room as they walked down the driveway while both Sunset and Eventide were looking back at the two of them.

“How do you think the girls would react once we tell them?” Sunset asked Eventide.

“Mixed. Pinkamena would be ecstatic, Rainbow and Rarity would be confused, Fluttershy would be worried, Applejack would insist we help, and Twilight would ask questions…” Eventide replied in a dull manner.

“Well… Here’s how I think of it…” Sunset told her, looking back at her. “Your… friend of a friend… is asking us to look over Cressida right now, but that may not be forever. If she goes, it’ll just be us again… and I’ve seen you when you’re with Cressida. You enjoy taking care of her and helping her… Besides, what’s the worst that could happen if we do agree to this?”

Back outside though, both Nicko and Faith walked side by side as they made their way to the portal at Canterlot High. “Hey, Uncle…… Do you think that they might agree to what you asked of them? They didn’t seem to thrilled to hear it.”

“Heh… don’t be so quick to assume…” The Rune Slayer told her as he looked back towards Sunset’s house. “Give them some time and have a bit of Faith. Things might work out really well in the end.”

“I thought that in the end, it doesn’t really matter?” Faith told him for a moment, causing Nicko to raise an eyebrow. “What? Dad says that all the time. Is something wrong?”

“No Faith… nothing’s wrong.” He said as the sun began to rise over the town of Canterlot City. Moments before they walked through the mirror. “Nothing’s wrong at all.”